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•  *  • '  •  Nature 

AND 

• '  •  *  •  Revelation 

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BL  240  ,P77  1889 
Pritchard,  Charles,  180b- 

1893. 
Occasional  thoughts  of  an 


16 


If, 


OCCASIONAL  THOUGHTS 


OF  AN  ASTRONOMER  ON 


NATURE   AND    REVELATION 


OCCASIONAL  THOUGHTS 

OF 

AN   ASTRONOMER 

ON 

NATURE  &  REVELATION 


By   Rev.   C.   PRITCHARD,   D.D.,  RRS. 

SAVILIAN    PROFESSOR   OF   ASTRONOMY,   AND   FELLOW   OF   NEW   COLLEGE,   OXFORD 

HONORARY   FELLOW   OF   ST.   JOHN'S   COLLEGE,    AND    FORMERLY 

HULSEAN  LECTURER,   CAMBRIDGE 


LONDON 

JOHN   MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE   STREET 

1889 


THIS  VOLUME 

IS    GRATEFULLY    INSCRIBED   TO   THE    REVERED    MEMORY 

OF   TWO   OF   THE    MOST   UPRIGHT 

AND    ENLIGHTENED    MEN    OF   THEIR   GENERATION 

THE  LATE  LORD  CHANCELLOR  HATHERLEY 

AND 

SIR  JOHN  HERSCHEL,  Bart. 

TO   WHOSE    FRIENDSHIP   AND   COUNTENANCE    THE    UTILISATION 

OF   THE    LAST   TWENTY   YEARS    OF    MY   LIFE 

HAS    BEEN    MAINLY   DUE 


PREFACE 

The  following  Discourses  and  Addresses  were 
written  during  the  intervals  of  an  absorbing  pro- 
fession. Nevertheless  they  are  not  to  be  regarded 
merely  as  recreations  sought  for  in  a  change  of 
work,  but  rather  as  indications  of  the  spontaneous 
undertones  of  a  thoughtful  life. 

The  audiences  to  which  they  were  originally 
addressed  were,  generally  speaking,  circumscribed, 
such  as  meetings  of  the  British  Association  and 
of  Church  Congresses,  but  to  some  troubled  minds 
among  them  they  are  said  to  have  been  helpful. 
For  the  most  part  they  touch  upon  subjects  which 
appertain  to  all  time,  and  they  possess  an  interest 
for  all  men.  It  is  under  the  above  circumstances 
that  these  Discourses  and  Addresses,  heretofore 
scattered,  have  been  collected,  and  are  now  pre- 
sented to  a  wider  class  of  readers. 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS 


I 

The  Continuity  of  the  Schemes  of  Nature 
AND  Revelation. 

PAGE 

A    Discourse   delivered    before   the   British    Association    at 

Nottingham  in  1866          ......  i 

II 

The  Analogy  of  Intellectual  Progress  to 
Religious  Growth. 

A  second  Discourse  delivered  before  the  British  Association 
at  Dundee  in  1867.  (The  death  and  character  of 
Faraday) 53 

III 

The  Testimony  of  Science  to  the  Continuity 
OF  the  Divine  Forethought  for  Man. 

A  third  Discourse  deHvered  before  the  British  Association  at 

Exeter   .         .         .  .         .  .         .  .         •         81 


^  CONTENTS 

IV 

Modern  Science  and  Natural  Religion. 

An  Address  read  at  the  Church  Congress  at  Brighton  in  1S74  Ti'9 


Aspects  of  Nature  in  relation  to  Miracles 

AND  Providence. 

An  Address  read  at  the  Church  Congress  at  Swansea  in  1879      143 


VI 

Scepticism  and  Faith 

considered  in  their  relations  to  the  progress 

OF  the  Knowledge  of  Nature. 

An  Address  read  at  the  Church  Congress  at  Dublin    .         .        161 


VII 

The  Slowness  of  the  Creative  Progress. 

A  Discourse  forming  the  first  of  a  Course  of  Hulsean  Lectures, 

delivered  before  the  University  of  Cambridge  in  1866  .  '     175 

VIII 

Difficulties  of  Belief. 


An  Address   delivered    to   followers  of  Mr.    Bradlaugh   in 
Northampton  .  .  .  , 


199 


CONTENTS  xi 

IX 

PAGE 

The    Miracle    in    Joshua    at   the    Battle    of 

Beth-Horon 227 

X 

The  Star  of  the  Magi 243 

XI 

The  Creation  Proem  of  Genesis  .         .         .       257 


I 

THE   CONTINUITY  OF 

THE  SCHEMES   OF  NATURE  AND 

OF  REVELATION 

A  discourse  delivered,  by  request,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Meeting 
of  the  British  Association  at  Nottingham.  With  remarks  on 
some  relations  of  modern  knowledge  to  theology. 


Xpr]  fxiv  TOL  ye  rbv  dira^  irapab^ajxevov  rod  KTcaauTOS  rbv  Koafxov 
ehaL  rai^ras  rds  ypacpas  Treireiadai.,  on  oaa  irepl  ttjs  Kriaeoos  airavTo. 
ToTs  ^TjTovai  rbv  irepl  avrrjs  \6you,  raura  /cat  irept  ruv  ypacpQv. — 
Origen,  Philocal. 

Sfi.  ' k.v(xyKalov  o5v  ecrrt  irepiii.evei.v  eo}S  du  tls  fJ-ddrj  ws  del  Trpos 
6eovs  Kal  irpbs  dv6pu}7rovs  diaKeladai. 

AA.  riore  odv  rrapecTTai  6  xpoj-os  oi'Tos,  c5  liiOKpaTes  ;  /cat  rts  6 
waLdevaoJv  ;  .  .  .  2fi.  Ouros  ianv  w  /wAet  Trept  (toO. — 
Plato,  Alcid.  //....  Ph/edo,  §  6o,  6i  .  .  .  Re- 
public, §  427. 


PREFACE 

This  Discourse  was  written  at  Nottingham,  im- 
mediately after  the  delivery  of  Mr.  (now  Sir 
William)  Grove's  address  to  the  British  Association. 
Those  who  had  the  privilege  of  then  hearing,  or 
who  have  subsequently  read,  Mr.  Grove's  discourse, 
will  at  once  perceive  that  his  remarks  on  the 
System  of  Nature  suggested  mine  on  the  Scheme 
of  Divine  Revelation.  That  eminent  philosopher 
pointed  out,  with  a  graceful  comprehensiveness 
peculiarly  his  own,  how  a  Law  of  CONTINUITY 
pervades  and  embraces  the  whole  physical  universe, 
so  far  at  least  as  our  knowledge  of  it  at  present 
extends.  There  are  no  gaps,  no  sudden  leaps  in 
Nature,  he  observed,  probably  not  even  in  the 
interstellar  spaces  themselves.  Modern  discovery 
seems  to  indicate  with  more  or  less  distinctiveness 
that  the  sun  and  the  larger  planets  are  in  their 
turns  succeeded  by  smaller  asteroids,  and  these 
again  by  swarms  of  revolving  meteoric  or  planet- 


4  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  SCHEMES  OF 

ary  dust  ;  the  position  of  many  of  these  swarms 
being  at  least  partially  determined,  and  the  times 
and  places  when  they  become  entangled  and  in- 
flamed in  our  atmosphere  being  accurately  known. 
Saturn,  again,  has  his  systems  of  rings  of  meteoric 
matter,  and  it  may  be  that  the  sun  is  surrounded 
by  that  mysterious  substance  from  whence  pro- 
ceeds the  zodiacal  light.  All  these  systems  of 
matter,  moreover,  are  either  identical  in  composi- 
tion, or  at  all  events  contain  many  terrestrial 
elements  in  common.  Naturalists  also  tell  us 
that  the  same  sort  of  unbroken  gradation  or 
Continuity  exists  in  the  organic  world  ;  species 
melting  into  species,  they  say,  so  that  the  further 
our  knowledge  extends,  the  more  difficult  it  is  to 
decide  where  one  ends  and  another  begins. 

The  evidence  that  such  is  probably  the  con- 
stitution of  the  things  we  see,  was  perhaps  never 
more  clearly  and  succinctly  detailed  than  in  the 
discourse  to  which  I  refer.  While  listening  to  this 
account  of  the  constitution  of  Nature,  Origen's 
remark,  quoted  by  Bishop  Butler,  could  scarcely 
fail  to  occur  to  the  mind  of  any  person  at  all 
versed  in  theology,  and  it  certainly  occurred  to 
mine.  Butler,  indeed,  for  the  purposes  of  his 
treatise,  somewhat  narrows  the  scope  of  what  that 
most  philosophical  of  ancient  divines  intends  to 
imply,   for    the    version    which    he    gives    is    this  : 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  5 

"  He  ivho  believes  the  Scripticres  to  have  proceeded 
from  the  author  of  Nature,  may  well  expect  to  find 
the  same  sort  of  difficulties  in  them  as  are  found  in 
the  constitution  of  Nature.'^  ^  Origen's  remark, 
however,  does  not  appear  to  be  restricted  to  the 
question  of  difficulties  alone,  but  to  include  any 
and  all  generic  relations  of  created  things  which 
may  be  discovered  by  human  research.  Had  he 
spoken  in  the  language  of  our  day  he  would  prob- 
ably have  said,  "  There  is  a  Continuity  between 
the  Scheme  of  Nature  and  the  Scheme  of  Revela- 
tion, as  recorded  in  the  Scriptures." 

In  this  point  of  view,  and  so  far  as  the  very 
restricted  limits  assigned  to  me  would  permit,  I 
have  endeavoured  to  show  how  the  great  scheme 
of  redemption  may  be  regarded  as  a  grand  con- 
tinuation, or  rather  as  the  divine  climax,  of  that 
system  of  intervention  and  vicarious  suffering 
which  not  only  pervades  the  natural  world,  but 
without  which  merciful  alleviation,  that  world  would 
become  a  scene  of  hopeless  misery.  Butler, 
as  is  well  known,  has  already  shown  the  same 
thing,  under  the  idea  of  Analogy,  which  I  here 
present  under  the  thought  of  gradation  or  con- 
tinuity. I  then  proceed  to  show  how  faith  in  the 
Redeemer  is  a  grand  continuation  also,  or  rather 
is  the  divine  climax  of  that  principle  of  trustful- 

^  Analogy^  Introduction.      See  the  original  facing  the  Preface. 


6  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  SCHEMES  OF 

ness  in  each  other,  which  forms  the  very  cement 
of  the  social  fabric.  Lastly,  I  have  given  my 
reasons  for  representing  the  restoration  or  sanctifi- 
cation  of  man's  moral  character  by  communion 
with  God,  as  in  the  main'  a  sacred  extension  of 
that  Imitative  Principle  acting  through  associa- 
tion, which  it  has  pleased  God  to  implant  in  our 
nature  for  many  wise  and  moral  purposes,  and 
which  in  this  case  He  adorns  with  His  especial 
grace. 

I  do  not  pretend  that  there  is  anything 
essentially  new  in  these  thoughts  ;  if  there  were, 
this  very  novelty  would  have  been,  to  me  at  least, 
a  sufficient  reason  for  a  very  guarded  reconsidera- 
tion. But  then  the  groiLping,  I  believe,  is  new, 
just  as  the  grouping  of  certain  acknowledged 
principles  in  the  scheme  of  nature,  under  the 
term  Continuity,  is  new  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Grove. 
I  think  also,  that  this  mode  of  viewing  the  scheme 
of  Revelation,  as  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
is  not  without  considerable  importance.  For 
surely  it  must  be  a  matter  of  great  interest  to 
the  Christian  student,  to  see  how  each  fresh 
accession  of  human  knowledge  which  God  has 
permitted  (and  as  I  think  has  intended)  His 
creatures  to  make,  regarding  the  natural  world, 
not  seldom  serves  also  to  illustrate  and  confirm 
our  faith  in  that  scheme  of  divine  government  or 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  7 

dispensation  which  is  revealed  to  us  in  the  Bible. 
It  was  mainly  this  consideration  which  induced 
me  to  select  this  new  topic  of  Continuity,  as  the 
proper  subject  for  an  address  from  the  pulpit 
to  the  members  of  the  British  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  ;  and  I  have  to  express 
my  gratitude  for  the  patient  and  respectful  hearing 
which  they  gave  to  my  remarks. 

It  may  not  here  be  out  of  place  to  observe, 
that  the  word  Continuity  is  not  the  only  philo- 
sophical term  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  Mr. 
Grove.  This  term  he  has  applied  to  \kiQ  plan  of 
nature  throughout  its  known  extent ;  but  he  has 
also  proposed  another  word,  which  groups  together 
\\\Q  forces  of  nature  in  a  singularly  happy  and  ex- 
pressive manner.  These  forces  co-exist,  interlace, 
osculate  with  each  other  ;  they  are  capable  of  evolu- 
tion in  a  definite  manner,  the  one  from  the  other. 
The  associations  of  matter  with  motion,  light,  heat, 
electricity,  magnetism,  and  chemical  action,  are  all 
(in  the  language  of  Mr.  Grove)  CORRELATED,  and 
within  prescribed  limits,  are  interchangeable  in 
quality  and  in  quantity.  This  CORRELATION  of  the 
physical  forces  may,  I  think,  be  regarded  as,  upon 
the  whole,  the  most  remarkable  discovery  since  the 
discussion  of  the  Laws  of  Gravitation  by  Newton  ; 
and  there  are  not  wanting  reasons  to  expect 
that  even  the  attraction   of   gravitation  itself  may 


8  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  SCHEMES  OF 

be  found  to  be  a  link  in  the  same  physical  chain. 
Now,  since  it  is  thus  shown  that  the  Divine 
Governor  of  the  universe  has  seen  fit  to  bind,  in 
one  bond  of  Correlation,  the  forces  acting  in  that 
part  of  His  dominions  which  are  seen  ;  ought  we 
not,  in  the  spirit  of  Origen's  remark,  to  look  for  a 
similar  Correlation  between  those  principles  or 
laws,  which  have  their  proper  functions  in  that 
part  of  the  Divine  Government,  which,  though  not 
seen,  is  revealed  ?  If  we  seek  for  it,  we  shall 
find  it 

For  where  do  the  laws  of  Providence,  for 
instance,  end,  and  where  do  the  laws  of  Grace 
begin  ?  are  not  both  of  them  phases  of  the  same 
Divine  loving  care  ?  Does  not  the  one  pre- 
suppose the  other  ?  And  a  similar  remark  holds 
good  regarding  the  functions  of  Faith,  and  Hope, 
and  Love,  and  Obedience.  Is  not  Hope  the  twin- 
sister  of  Faith  ?  And  is  not  Obedience  the 
daughter  of  Love  ?  ^  And  what  becomes  of 
Obedience  when  Faith  is  under  a  cloud  ?  And 
in  the  great  scheme  of  Man's  redemption,  does 
not  an  Apostle  tell  us  that  Justification  and 
Sanctification  co- exist  and  interlace?  and  may 
not  this  fact  go  far  to  explain  the  interminable 
and  sometimes  unloving  discussions  regarding 
their  true  origin  and  their  distinctive  functions  ? 

1  See  Wordsworth's  Ode  to  Duty. 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  9 

Hence  the  sagacious  remark  made  by  Origen 
some  fifteen  centuries  ago,  like  the  expressions  of 
other  comprehensive  truths,  proves  to  be  prophetic, 
and  reaches  to  us  and  embraces  our  children. 
And  this  leads  me  to  observe  how  unnecessary  and 
how  suicidal  is  that  timidity,  not  to  use  a  stronger 
term,  with  which  many  religious  persons,  and,  I 
regret  to  add,  some  divines  among  us,  receive  the 
successive  disclosures  of  the  constitution  of  natural 
things,  which  of  late  years  have  come  upon  us 
in  thick  abundance.  Such  timidity  is  unnecessary, 
because  each  new  fact,  each  new  truth,  when  fairly 
presented  to  the  mind,  if  only  it  be  a  truth,  cannot 
fail  to  become  a  new  illustration  of  Him  whom 
they  know  to  be  The  Truth,  and  whom  they 
profess  to  love.  For  my  own  part,  and  I  hope  I 
say  it  with  no  affectation,  and  I  am  sure  I  say  it 
with  no  reserve,  from  the  results  of  modern  re- 
search, I  have  gathered  additional  reasons  for  rest- 
ing in  the  simplicity  of  the  ancient  Christian  faith, 
and  in  modern  discoveries  I  have  found  many  a 
new  and  unexpected  trace  of  the  Creator's  majesty, 
of  His  power.  His  wisdom,  and  His  love.  Some 
instances  of  what  I  mean  will,  it  is  hoped,  be 
found  in  the  Sermon  which  follows  these  remarks. 
May  I  be  permitted  to  say,  that  if  the  progress  of 
knowledge  shall,  on  a  calm  and  impartial  review, 
induce  Theologians  somewhat  to  modify,  here  and 


10  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  SCHEMES  OF 

there,  a  popular,  or  hasty,  or  merely  human  inter- 
pretation of  one  or  two  portions  of  the  Divine 
Revelation,  then,  judging  from  my  own  experience, 
I  feel  assured  that,  with  this  increase  of  intelligent 
perception  of  the  Will  of  God,  there  must  be 
associated  the  exaltation  of  our  reverential  love 
of  His  Word. 

But  it  seems  to  me  to  be  worth  considering 
whether  this  suspicious  timidity  regarding  science 
and  scientific  men,  may  not  after  all  be  grounded 
on  an  entire  mistake.  For  after  all,  is  it  true  that 
the  pursuit  of  science  has  any  inherent  tendency 
towards  religious  scepticism  ?  I  would  venture  to 
ask  whether  Kepler,  or  Newton,  or  Leibnitz,  or 
Euler,  or  Linnaeus,  or  Cuvier,  were  sceptics  ?  If 
it  were  not  that  obvious  reasons  forbid  it,  I  could 
put,  without  misgiving,  the  same  question  in 
reference  to  the  great  majority  in  the  long  phalanx 
of  living  men,  who  are  devoting  God's  noble  gift 
of  genius  to  the  elucidation  of  God's  works.  I  do 
not  say  that  the  fashionable  Agnosticism  of  the  day 
has  not  found  some  adherents  among  men  of 
science,  as  it  has  found  many  among  educated 
men  of  every  class.  But  it  is  pre-occupation  of 
mind,  rather  than  science,  which  is,  and  ever  has 
been,  the  prolific  parent  of  scepticism  and  of 
indifference  in  religion.  Are  not  the  pre-occupa- 
tions    of    high    position,    the    pre-occupations    of 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  ii 

ambition,  of  literature,  of  money-getting  and  of 
money-spending,  of  conceit,  of  sensual  habits,  and 
even  of  idleness,  at  least  as  unfriendly  to  the 
hearty  acceptance  of  the  Christian  revelation,  as 
are  the  pre-occupations  of  scientific  pursuits  ? 
I  trust  I  am  not  guilty  of  speaking  in  a  pre- 
sumptuous spirit,  if  I  venture  to  remark  that 
enormous  mischief  has  arisen  from  ill-judged,  un- 
merited, and  often  very  ignorant  attacks  which 
have  been  made  upon  the  supposed  tendencies  of 
science,  and  the  supposed  scepticism  of  scientific 
men,  from  the  pulpit,  in  religious  circles,  and  in 
religious  publications.  It  is  agreeable  to  no  man 
to  be  pointed  at  with  the  finger  of  suspicion  ;  and 
men  of  sensitive  and  independent  minds  will 
leave,  and  within  my  own  knowledge  have  left,  a 
ministration  of  God's  word,  not  from  any  original 
distaste  for  revealed  truth,  but  because  they  have 
found  themselves,  and  the  at  least  innocent  pur- 
suits they  love,  made  the  object  of  covert,  and 
unkind,  and  ignorant  comment.  It  can  be  no 
exaggeration  to  say,  that  such  an  alienation  of 
any  highly  gifted  and  influential  mind  is  nothing 
short  of  a  public  loss,  and  that,  therefore,  the 
timidity  in  question  is  suicidal. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  doubted,  and 
it  may  not  be  concealed,  that  there  is  a  reticence, 
and    I  wish   I  were  wrong    in   adding   there   is    a 


12  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  SCHEMES  OF 

growing  reticence,  observable  in  the  writings 
of  some  able  men,  which  is  both  disappointing 
and  painful  to  religious  minds.  It  is  a  reticence 
regarding  that  Eternal  Father,  Who,  even  on 
principles  of  natural  religion  alone,  is  the  Prime 
Cause,  and  the  Governor  of  that  universe,  the 
frame- work  of  which  is  the  object  of  the  researches 
of  these  thoughtful  men.  It  may  be  that  one 
cause  of  this  reticence  is,  the  natural  reaction  from 
certain  violations  of  good  taste  and  propriety, 
which  at  one  time  abounded  in  the  (after  all,  well- 
meant)  writings  of  second-hand  writers  and 
religious  sciolists.  It  may  be  that  another  cause  is 
to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  these  great  writers  have 
in  their  own  minds  intentionally  distinguished 
the  subjective  from  the  objective,  separating  the 
things  of  sight  from  the  things  of  faith  ;  but  what- 
ever the  causes  may  be,  the  fact  remains,  and  as  I 
have  said,  it  is  both  disappointing  and  painful. 
I  will  only  venture  to  add  one  observation  more 
upon  this  subject,  and  I  am  sure  that  the  great 
writers  to  whom  with  unfeigned  respect  I  allude, 
will  bear  me  out  in  the  justness  of  the  remark — 
and  it  is  this  ;  the  giants  of  old,  who  were  the 
pioneers  of  modern  knowledge,  the  Keplers  for 
instance,  the  Newtons,  the  Bernoullis,  the  Eulers 
of  ancient  fame,  had  no  such  reticence.  Why 
should  the  sons  be  more  reticent  than  the  fathers  ? 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  13 

In  this  behest  I  cannot  do  better  than  conclude 
with  a  few  passages  out  of  that  magnificent 
Scholium  with  which  Newton  closes  the  Frmcipia, 
and  if  I  give  the  original  it  is  because  I  despair 
of  making  or  of  finding  a  version  which  could 
reproduce  the  eloquence  of  Newton's  words  : — 
"  Elegantissima  hcecce  solis  planetarimi  et  cometariim 
covipages,  non  nisi  consilio  et  doinhiio  entis  intelli- 
gentis  et  potentis  oriri  potttit.  Et  si  stellcs  fixce 
sint  centra  similitim  systematum,  hcec  omnia  siniili 
consilio  construct  a  sitbernnt  Unius  dominio  .  .  . 
Hie  omnia  regit  non  nt  anima  innndi,  scd  ut 
Universoruin  Dominies.  Et  propter  dominium 
snnm,  Dominns  Dens  HavroKparayp  dici  solet. 
Nam  Dens  est  vox  relativa,  et  ad  servos  refertnr ; 
et  deitas  est  dominatio  Dei,  non  in  corpus  proprium, 
uti  sentiunt  quibus  Deus  est  anima  mimdi,  sed  in 
servos.  Deus  summits  est  ens  ceternum,  infijiitum, 
absolute  perfectum  .  .  .  Non  est  cBternitas  et  in- 
finitas,  sed  cetcrnus  et  infinitus ;  non  est  duratio 
et  spatiimt,  sed  durat  et  adest  .  .  .  Ut  ccbcils  non 
habet  ideam  colorum,  sic  nos  ideam  non  kabemus 
modorum,  quibus  Deus  sapientissimus  sentit  et 
intelligit  omnia  .  .  .  Corpore  omni  et  figurd  cor- 
pored  prorsus  destituitur,  ideoque  videri  non  potest, 
nee  audiriy  nee  tangi,  nee  sub  specie  rei  aliciijus 
corporecB  coli  debet  .  .  .  Nunc  cognoscimus  solum- 
viodo  per  proprietates  ejus  et  attributa,  et  per  sapien- 


14  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  SCHEMES  OF 

tissimas  et  optimas  rentin  structiiras  et  causas 
finales,  et  adviiramur  ob  perfectiones ;  veneramur 
aiitem  et  colimics  ob  dominium.  Colinms  enim  tct 
servi,  et  Dens  sine  dominio,  providentid,  et  causis 
finalibus  nihil  aliud  est  qiiam  fatnm  et  natura.  A 
ccBca  necessitate  metaphysicd,  qnce  eadem  est  et 
semper  et  icbique,  nulla  oritur  rerum  variatio. 
Tata  rerum  conditarum  pro  locis  ac  temporibits 
diversitaSy  ab  ideis  et  vohuitate  entis  necessario  exis- 
tentis  solummodo  oriri  potuit  .  .  .  Et  hcec  de  Deo, 
de  quo  utique  ex  phoenomenis  diss er ere  ad  philo- 
sopJiiam  naturalem  pertinet!' 

In  the  notes,  I  have  given  what  appear  to  me 
valid  reasons,  drawn  from  astronomical  and 
physical  considerations,  why  I  cannot  accept,  to 
its  full  extent,  Mr.  Darwin's  Theory  of  Natural 
Selection,  as  explaining  the  development  of  the 
human  Eye  from  some  greatly  inferior  organisa- 
tion.^ If  the  arguments  are  correct  they  extend 
to  other  organs  also.  In  the  strictures  on  this 
theory,  I  trust  not  a  word  will  be  found  inconsistent 
with  that  respectful  admiration  which  I,  in  common 
with  most  educated  men,  entertain  for  the  author 
of  some  of  the  most  charming  books  in  our  lan- 
guage. I  hope,  also.  Dr.  Tyndall^  will  find  no  just 
cause  for  complaint  in  the  manner  of  my  taking 
exception  to  some  of  his  recent  remarks  on  Prayer. 

1  Appendix,  Note  A.  -  Appendix,  Note  B. 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  15 

The  great  mental  agitation  on  subjects  con- 
nected with  Religion,  for  which  this  age  is  remark- 
able, so  far  from  furnishing  a  reasonable  cause  for 
despondency,  may  fairly  be  viewed  as  a  providen- 
tial opportunity  for  learned  and  high-placed  divines 
to  exhibit  and  enforce  such  new  aspects  of  truth 
as  they  may  consider  to  have  been  overlooked. 
It  was  in  this  light  that  Augustine  habitually 
regarded  the  controversies  of  his  day.  It  is  Ana- 
thema, and  not  moderation  in  argument,  that  is  a 
sure  sign  either  of  a  falling  or  a  weakly  supported 
cause.  In  contending  with  an  opponent,  nothing 
is  gained  by  that  assumption  of  a  tone  of  superiority 
or  by  that  "look  of  offence,  which  though  harmless 
in  effect,  nevertheless,"  in  the  words  of  the  greatest 
of  ancient  historians,^  "  is  troublesome  and  painful 
to  those  who  endure  it." 

^  Thucyd.,  lib.  ii.  cap.  37. 


THE    CONTINUITY    OF    THE    SCHEMES 
OF  NATURE  AND  OF  REVELATION 

"  I  know  that  whatsoever  God  doeth,  it  shall  be  for  ever  :  nothing 
can  be  put  to  it,  nor  any  thing  taken  from  it  :  and  God  doeth 
it  that  men  should  fear  before  Him.  That  which  hath  been 
is  now  ;  and  that  which  is  to  be  hath  already  been."— Eccles. 
iii.  14,  15- 

These  words  would  be  sufficiently  striking  even 
if  they  were  the  language  of  an  ordinary  man. 
Coming  from  a  man  pre-eminent  for  wisdom,  and 
opportunity,  and  experience,  from  one  whose 
mind,  moreover,  was  illuminated  by  the  inspira- 
tion of  God,  our  text  assumes  an  aspect  of  more 
than  common  importance. 

It  is  possible,  indeed,  that  to  some  persons  our 
text  may  suggest  unwelcome  thoughts  of  the 
fixity  of  human  individual  destiny:  you  may 
imagine  for  a  moment  that  Solomon  therein 
desc^'ribes  man  as  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  an 
iron  necessity  from  which  he  cannot  escape  ;  man, 
not  so  much  the  sport,  as  the  victim  of  his  circum- 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  17 

stances  ;  man,  as  playing  in  his  little  day  his 
predestined  part,  just  as  other  men  in  their 
generations  before  him  played  their  own  ;  for  is  it 
not  said  by  the  Royal  Preacher,  "  I  know  that 
what  God  doeth  He  doeth  it  for  ever  ;  that  which 
hath  been  is  now,  and  that  which  is  to  be  hath 
already  been?"  But  I  hope  to  speak  to  you  to- 
night of  an  interpretation  of  these  remarkable 
words  truer,  and  deeper,  and  more  hopeful.  True, 
I  shall  have  to  speak  of  permanent,  inevitable 
laws  imposed  by  the  Omnipotent  Creator  upon 
the  very  constitution  of  His  creature's  being,  and 
on  all  the  various  circumstances  which  surround 
him  or  affect  him  :  but  then  these  laws  are 
devised  in  consummate  wisdom,  and  are  executed 
in  unswerving  love  ;  these  laws  of  our  moral,  our 
spiritual  being,  are  to  us  the  expressions  of  a  holy 
Father's  will,  they  are  the  explanations  of  the 
scheme  of  His  righteous  government  ;  they  are  to 
us,  and  within  the  limits  of  our  mental  powers, 
the  unfolding  of  the  plan  on  which  the  creation  of 
mind,  and  spirit,  and  matter,  was  devised  and  is 
still  sustained. 

So  far  from  forging  the  links  of  an  iron  necessity 
for  the  thraldom  of  man,  the  permanence  and 
invariability  of  these  laws  secure  the  charter  of 
man's  liberty  of  action,  they  constitute  him  a 
responsible   creature,  they  lie  at  the  foundation  of 

C 


1 8  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LAWS  OF 

his  dearest  hopes.  It  is  alone  because  these  laws 
of  nature  and  of  being  are  permanent,  that  man 
is  enabled  to  foresee  the  consequence  of  his  doings ; 
it  is  on  the  security  of  this  ground  that  he  acts 
with  foresight  and  with  confidence,  forming  and 
persevering  in  his  plans  in  the  fulness  of  hope. 
Nay,  your  town  is  at  this  time  thronged  with  a 
concourse  of  thoughtful  and  sagacious  men,  not 
solely  for  the  interchange  of  kindly  greetings,  but 
to  aid  and  encourage  each  other  in  the  search  for 
truths  which  they  know  are  ordained  of  God,  for 
purposes  beyond  those  of  to-day  or  of  to-morrow, 
and  concerning  which  they  know  that,  "  Whatso- 
ever God  doeth.  He  doeth  it  for  ever ;  nothing 
can  be  put  to  it  or  taken  from  it :  and  God  doeth 
it  that  men  should  fear  Him." 

What  I  want  to  show  you,  or  to  bring  to  your 
remembrance  to-night,  is  this  : — I  want  to  con- 
vince you,  if  you  need  the  conviction,  that  those 
great  cardinal  facts,  or  doctrines  as  we  call  them, 
of  the  Christian  faith,  which  are  made  known  to 
us  by  revelation  from  God,  are  analogous  to,  or  I 
might  even  say  are  in  continuity  with,  those  other 
ordinary  facts  or  principles,  by  the  application  of 
which  it  is  ordained  of  God  that  you  and  I  live 
our  hourly  life,  and  that  human  society  coheres 
day  by  day.  I  do  not,  indeed,  mean  to  say  that, 
by   any  stretch  of  thought,  the   unaided   mind   of 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  19 

man  could  have  devised  or  could  have  conceived 
so  mighty  a  scheme  as  that  of  the  redemption  of 
the  great  human  family  (for  instance)  through  the 
agency  of  a  crucified  Redeemer.  I  do  not  mean 
to  say  that  man,  of  himself  and  out  of  himself 
alone,  could  have  originated  the  thought  of  salva- 
tion from  the  consequences  and  the  power  of 
sin,  by  faith  in  that  Redeemer.  But  I  do  mean 
to  say,  that  so  soon  as  these  cardinal  facts  of  the 
Christian  faith  have  been  taught  us,  on  examina- 
tion we  find  they  are  all  of  a  piece,  and  all  in 
consistency  with  those  other  wise  and  beneficent 
arrangements,  which  we  discern  in  the  world 
around  us  and  within  us.  Herein,  I  say,  are 
veirfied  the  words  of  our  text,  "  That  which  hath 
been  is  now;  and  that  which  is  to  be  hath  already 
been." 

I  propose  then,  under  this  point  of  view,  to 
consider, 

I.  The  Redemption  of  mankind  by  a  suffering 
Redeemer. 

II.  The  Salvation  of  man  from  sin,  and  from 
its  consequences,  by  faith  in  that  Redeemer. 

III.  The  Sanctification  of  man's  character,  i.e. 
the  development  of  his  moral  being  into  righteous- 
ness, by  the  operation  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and 
through  prayer. 

And  my  aim,  as   I  have  said,  will  be  to  show 


20  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LA  WS  OF 

you  that  these  cardinal  facts  or  chief  doctrines  of 
revelation  are  majestic  instances  of  that  same  sort 
of  CONTINUITY  of  the  Divine  plan  in  the  moral 
and  spiritual  world,  which  we  have  so  lately  and 
so  ably  been  taught  to  observe  in  the  universe  of 
matter.  All  these  several  arrangements,  I  say, 
are  but  consistent  and  CONTINUOUS  parts  of  one 
Divine  magnificent  plan,  ordained  of  old  by  the 
Eternal  Father ;  "  nothing  can  be  put  to  it,  nor 
anything  taken  from  it.  That  which  hath  been  is 
now  ;  and  that  which  is  to  be  hath  been  already." 

And  first,  as  touching  Redemption  by  a 
suffering  Redeemer. 

Society,  the  whole  fabric  of  the  moral  world, 
is  carried  on  and  is  held  together  by  a  law,  by  a 
scheme  of  natural  intervention  or  mediation  ;  I 
think  you  could  scarcely  name  a  joy  you  have 
ever  felt,  or  a  trouble  from  which  you  have  ever 
escaped,  which  you  cannot  trace  to  the  interven- 
tion of  another,  and  not  rarely  to  an  intervention 
effected  with  pain  to  the  intervener. 

Think  of  the  little  babe  ; — there  it  lies,  joyous 
and  redolent  with  the  promise  of  the  activities  of 
life,  yet  utterly  helpless  and  dependent  upon 
others'  care.  But  think  also  of  the  pale  face  of 
her  whose  strength  scarce  suffices  to  nestle  her 
little  one  in  her  nerveless  arms.  Nay,  without  my 
bidding,  some  of  you  perforce  recall  to  memory, 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  21 

how  the  mother's  pulse  ceased  to  beat  before  she 
could  utter  a  parent's  blessing  on  her  child. 
And  what  is  all  this  ?  what  is  it  but  the  re- 
demption of  a  life,  at  the  cost  of  the  sufferings  of 
another  ? 

Pass  onwards  a  few  years,  and  trace  that  child 
now  walking  with  elastic  step  at  his  father's  side 
— but  look  upwards  at  the  father's  face  ;  you  will 
not  be  surprised  to  find  many  a  deep  furrow  there, 
furrows  that  bear  testimony  to  the  father's  anxieties 
and  the  father's  toils — anxieties  and  toils,  that  the 
bright  boy  who  walks  at  his  side  may  have  a  good 
offset  for  the  battle  of  life  before  him, —  nay, 
anxieties  and  toils  sometimes  deep  and  inevitable 
for  the  bare  supply  of  that  child's  daily  bread. 
And  what  means  all  this  ?  What  is  it  but  re- 
demption again,  sometimes  procured  at  the  cost 
of  labour,  and  suffering,  and  tears  ? 

And  when  is  it  that  you  cease  to  hear  men 
speak  of  their  "  friends  "  ?  What  other  word  so 
common  among  us  ?  Need  I  remind  you  what 
that  word  "  friend  "  implies  ?  Alas  !  for  the  most 
part  it  implies,  not  the  confiding  interchange  of 
thought,  not  the  sweet  comparison  of  experience, 
and  hope,  and  aspiration,  not  the  pleasant  sugges- 
tions which  arise  from  community  of  taste  ;  for 
such  high  privileges  are  reserved  for  those  only 
who   by  patient    continuance   in   well-doing  have 


22  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LAWS  OF 

acquired  a  capacity  to  enjoy  them  ;  but  that 
commonest  of  words,  a  "  friend,"  bears  testimony 
to  that  commonness  of  weakness  which  looks 
for  aid  in  another's  strength  ;  to  that  commonness 
of  wants  which  seek  their  supply  in  another's  abun- 
dance ;  it  bears  testimony  to  that  commonness  of 
troubles  which  not  rarely  can  be  removed  solely 
at  the  cost  of  another's  pains,  even  greater  than 
those  which  they  assuage.  There  is  not,  there 
cannot  be,  a  man  before  me,  who  may  not  trace, 
again  and  again,  instances  of  what  I  mean  in  his 
own  personal  history.  "I  speak  of  what  we 
know  and  feel  within." 

And  think  again,  for  a  moment,  even  of  the 
arts  and  conveniences  of  life  ;  of  the  appliances, 
the  inventions,  the  discoveries  which  God  hath 
ordained  to  ennoble  life  :  such  results  come  at  no 
man's  light  bidding  ;  the  discovery,  the  invention 
may  come,  and  in  fact  must  come  at  last,  like  a 
flash,  but  the  happy,  the  .final  thought  comes  to 
the  man  of  genius  only  after  days,  and  nights,  or 
even  years  of  patient  endurance  in  intellectual 
toil.  And  when  it  does  come  to  him,  not  seldom 
the  health  is  failing,  or  the  lamp  of  life  is  flicker- 
ing and  burnt  low  ;  or  other  men  step  in,  reaping 
the  harvest  of  his  toil,  and  leaving  him  little  more 
than  the  gleanings  of  the  field,  the  sowing  whereof 
was  all  his  own.      Look  at  the  countenances  of 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  23 

the  chiefs  among  those  able  men  who  now  throng 
your  town,  and  on  their  brows  you  will  find  many 
a  trace  of  the  midnight  struggle  with  thought, 
ageing  them  before  they  have  reached  their  prime  : 
"  one  soweth  and  another  reapeth."  These  men 
labour — you  and  I  "  enter  into  their  labours." 

And  so  I  might  proceed  with  other  instances 
of  a  like  import  ;  if  the  time  allowed,  I  might 
more  than  briefly  allude  to  the  well-known  names 
of  noble  men  and  of  noble  women  still  living 
among  us,  who,  like  apostles  and  martyrs  of  old, 
count  not  their  lives  dear  unto  them,  if  only  they 
may  help  the  helpless,  cheer  the  cheerless,  raise 
the  fallen,  and  impart  the  joy  of  hope  to  the 
spirit  of  the  dying.  But  I  forbear  ;  for  one  con- 
tinuous system  of  redemption  and  of  vicarious 
suffering  has  been  ordained  of  God  as  the  very 
law  and  the  plan  of  our  natural  being. 

Now,  such  being  the  scheme,  such  the  manner 
after  which  it  has  pleased  the  Eternal  Creator  to 
impart  the  joys,  to  assuage  the  sorrows,  and  to 
enlighten  the  ignorance,  of  His  creatures  in  this 
their  natural  life,  which  endures  but  for  threescore 
years  and  ten,  I  ask  you.  Is  there  anything 
which  can  reasonably  jar  upon  our  feelings  if  we 
find  that  the  Eternal  Father,  in  His  marvellous 
beneficence,  has  interposed  after  a  like,  though  a 
higher  manner,  on  behalf  of  His  children  in  those 


24  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  lA  WS  OF 

higher  relations  of  theirs  which  endure  for  ever  ? 
For  without  some  interposition,  without  some 
communication  from  on  high,  what  can  man  learn 
by  his  natural  faculties  of  the  life  to  come  ? 
Without  this  interposition,  what  can  he  ascertain 
by  his  natural  faculties  of  the  world  of  spirit? 
Does  God  really  care  for  man  with  an  individual, 
with  a  personal  care  ?  Will  God  hear  his  prayer  ? 
Did  he  intend  him  to  pray  ?  Can  there  be  any 
sympathy  between  a  pure  Almighty  God  and  a  sin- 
ful man,  conscious  of  his  wilful  sin  ?  Is  it  possible 
for  such  a  man  to  be  at  one  with  such  a  God  ? 

To  these  anxious  questions,  the  wisest  men  of 
ancient  times  admitted  that  of  themselves  they 
could  give  no  reply.  Yet,  strange  to  say,  Socrates, 
confessedly  the  wisest  of  them  all,  more  than  once, 
and  as  it  were  with  the  voice  of  prophecy,  ex- 
pressed his  strong  conviction,  that  the  God  who, 
he  said,  manifestly  ''cared''  for  man,  would  one 
day  send  him  a  teaeJier  to  instruct  him.  What 
wonder,  then,  if  in  the  fulness  of  time  God  should 
take  compassion  on  the  lost,  and  ignorant,  and 
pitiable  condition  of  His  children,  and,  through 
the  mediation  of  Christ  and  His  matchless  ex- 
ample, teach  the  world  what  a  good  man  should 
be,  and  what  a  good  man  may  be  ?  What 
wonder,  moreover,  if  God,  through  the  mediation 
of  His    Divine   Son,  should    thus   give   to   man   a 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  25 

distinct  and  living  inanifestatioji  of  all  that  a 
finite  being  need  know,  or  can  know,  of  the  infinite 
Godhead  ?  And  further  still,  what  wonder  if  this 
interposition,  this  mediation  thus  made  by  the  Son 
of  God  on  man's  behalf,  should  be  accompanied 
by  the  suffering  and  the  death  of  the  Redeemer  ? 
Would  it  not  be  all  of  a  piece,  would  it  not  be  in 
harmony,  in  CONTINUITY  with  those  other  number- 
less natural  interventions  in  man's  behalf,  which 
by  God's  natural  appointment  we  see  involve  the 
sufferings  of  the  intervener  ? 

But  more  still  remains.  Man  is  not  only  con- 
fessedly pitiable  and  ignorant,  but  he  is,  and  he 
knows  he  is,  both  sinful  and  a  wilful  sinner 
against  God.  What  shall — what  can  put  away 
such  sin  ?  What  can  make  an  atonement,  a  re- 
conciliation between  this  sinning  creature  and  this 
all -pure  but  offended  God?  How  can  the  two 
be  brought  together?  The  Revelation  of  God's 
will  to  us  in  the  Gospel  of  His  Son  tells  us  that 
all  this  is  accomplished  through  the  Cross  of  the 
Redeemer  Christ.  If  you  ask  me  why,  or  how 
such  things  can  be,  I  cannot  tell  you  ;  at  least, 
by  no  means  fully  so.  But  then,  in  the  natural 
world,  I  cannot  tell  you  what,  in  their  subtle 
essence,  are  those  mysterious  agencies  called  light, 
or  heat,  or  electricity,  or  magnetism,  or  gravita- 
tion.     Of  some    of  their    relations,   and   of  some 


26  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LAWS  OF 

portion  of  the  laws  under  which  they  are  ordained 
to   act,  men  of  genius,  after  the  patience   and   the 
failures  of  ages,  have  at  length   caught  a  glimpse, 
and  of  these  they  have  taken  ample  advantage  in 
the  appliances  of  life.      But  what  these  agencies 
are  in  themselves,  who  can   tell  ?      Neither  in   the 
natural    world    do    I    know    why    "  like    produces 
like,"   nor    do   I    know  why   the  worlds,   and   the 
creatures  which  our  world  contains,  are  constrained 
to   abide  the   slow  process   of  their    growth,   and 
start  not   at   once   into   the  fulness  of  their  being, 
like    Minerva    in   her   panoply.      And    if  again    I 
turn  to  the  moral  world,   I   cannot  tell  you  why 
a  righteous   Creator   permitted    sin    to   defile  the 
beautiful  world  which   He  created.      I   cannot  tell 
you    why    a    loving    and   wise    Father    permitted 
sorrow,  and  ignorance,  and  wrong,  to  be  the  lot 
of  all    His  children  ;  but   as  I   see    that    in    the 
natural  world  He  has  provided  the  mediation  and 
suffering  of  one  man  to  remove  the  suffering  or 
the  ignorance  of  another,  why  should   I   cavil    at 
a    revelation   which    tells    me    that    man    may  be 
pardoned    and    reconciled    to    God,   through    the 
humiliation,  the  life,  the   example,  the  death,  the 
vicarious  sufferings  of  His  incarnate  Son  ?     These 
things  angels  may  well  desire  to  look  into. 
"  They  are  higher  than  heaven,  what  can  I  do  ? 
They  are  deeper  than  hell,  what  can  I  know  ?  " 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  27 

So  I  will  bow  my  head,  and  I  will  place  myself  at 
the  foot  of  the  Saviour's  Cross.  I  will  wonder  and 
adore,  and  I  will  stay  my  mind  on  God.  All  that  I 
know  is,  that  the  law  of  Divine  Redemption  is  in 
harmony,  in  CONTINUITY  with  God's  other  dispensa- 
tions, and  I  see  that  herein  "  whatsoever  God  doeth, 
it  shall  be  for  ever.  I  know  that  what  hath  been 
is  now,  and  that  which  is  to  be  hath  already  been." 
II.  We  now  come  to  another  law  of  the  moral 
world,  to  the  great  Christian  scheme  of  salvation 
by  FAITH  in  Christ  Jesus.  Many  are  the  attributes 
which  in  the  Gospel  are  assigned  to  Faith.  By 
faith  the  Christian  is  said  to  stand  ;  by  faith  he 
walks  ;  by  faith  he  is  made  pure  ;  by  faith 
he  removes  mountains  ;  by  faith  he  overcomes  all 
things  ;  by  faith  he  lives,  he  is  justified,  and  he  is 
saved.  But  if  these  attributes  assigned  to  Faith 
are  great,  so  also  are  the  cavils  with  which  men 
in  all  ages  have  been  disposed  to  admit  her  claims, 
and  many  and  grievous  are  the  charges  which 
they  have  laid  at  her  door.  For  is  it  practically 
found,  men  have  asked — and  they  have  the  right 
to  ask  it — is  it  in  accordance  with  experience,  that 
men  lead  holy  lives  in  proportion  to  the  strength 
of  their  religious  convictions,  and  to  the  purity  and 
perfection  of  the  creeds  which  they  profess  ?  The 
devils  have  their  convictions,  yet  the  devils  tremble 
and  are  impure.      What,  then,  is  the  true  source  of 


28  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  I A  WS  OF 

these  apparent  contradictions  ?  It  lies  mainly,  I 
think,  in  a  mistake  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  term 
FAITH  itself.  Let  us  try  then  to  ascertain  what 
this  much-vaunted,  much-misunderstood  principle 
really  is.  And  here  I  observe,  that  if  there  is  any 
one  English  word  which  will  explain  it,  it  is  tritst- 
f Illness,  the  trustfulness  of  love.-^  Indeed,  in  the 
English  translation  of  the  Old  Testament,  the 
equivalent  to  the  same  word  in  the  New  is  in- 
variably rendered  by  the  word  "  trust "  ;  and  if  I 
were  to  recount  to  you  all  the  achievements  attri- 
buted in  the  Old  Testament  to  trust  in  Jehovah,  I 
should  have  to  repeat  to  you  a  large  portion  of 
the  Old  Testament  itself;  and  you  would  soon 
perceive  how  the  results  of  this  tncst  in  Israel's 
God,  as  there  revealed,  are  very  much  the  same 
as  those  assigned  to  faith  in  God  as  now  more 
fully  made  known  to  us  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
Jesus.  So  far,  then,  we  may  even  here  observe  a 
CONTINUITY  in  the  principles  of  God's  dispensa- 
tions to  His  creatures,  as  exhibited  to  the  men  of 
old  time,  and  to  us  Christians  in  these  latter  days. 
But  I  wish  to  go  further,  and  I  wish  to  show  you 
how  this  same  principle  of  faith,  or  trustfulness,  is 
the  very  keystone  of  the  arch  of  our  social  fabric, 
the  very  strength  of  our  daily  natural  lives.  Now, 
as  in   the  illustration  of  the   principle  of  vicarious 

1  So  Luther  says  again  and  again,  Fides  est  fidiicia. 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  29 

suffering,  which  runs  through  the  world  of  nature, 
we  took  the  mother's  pitiable  condition  at  the 
birth  of  her  child,  so  here,  to  exemplify  the  con- 
tinuity of  faith,  we  shall  take  the  instance  of  the 
young  child  itself  For  the  first  years  of  its 
existence  its  whole  life  is  of  necessity  a  life  of 
dependence  and  trust  In  faith  it  seeks  its 
natural  food  ;  in  faith  it  nestles  itself  in  its 
mother's  breast  ;  in  faith  it  strives  to  stand  ; 
in  faith  it  lisps  the  fond  names  of  father  and  of 
mother ;  and,  blessed  be  God,  in  this  Christian 
land  in  faith  it  sits  upon  its  mother's  lap,  and  with 
stammering  lips  learns  to  call  upon  the  name  of 
Jesus.  As  years  advance  the  young  child  walks 
at  his  father's  side,  and,  gazing  in  his  father's  face 
with  unquestioning  faith,  learns  from  him  and 
applies  the  first  lessons  of  the  life  before  him. 
Thus  the  young  child,  by  the  natural  ordinance  of 
God,  is,  as  it  were,  reared  and  nurtured  in  a  cradle 
of  faith,  and  if  not  too  indocile  he  soon  becomes  a 
fitting  emblem  (and  the  illustration  here  is  not 
mine,  you  will  see)  —  he  becomes  an  emblem  of 
those  children  of  an  elder  growth,  who,  in  their 
maturity,  shall  by  faith  live  the  life  of  the  true 
citizens  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

But  these  early  lessons  in  faith  stop  not  here. 
In  faith  and  patience  he  painfully  learns  the  arts 
of  maturer  life.      In  faith  he  ploughs  ;   in  faith  he 


30  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LA  WS  OF 

SOWS  ;  in  faith  he  gathers  into  barns  ;  in  faith  he 
launches  into  the  deep  ;  in  faith  he  borrows  ;  in 
faith  he  lends  ;  in  faith  he  carries  on  his  commerce 
with  his  brother  man,  often  and  of  necessity  con- 
fiding to  his  trust  the  very  means  to  which  he 
looks  for  his  daily  bread.  Need  you  any  further 
illustration  of  what  faith  is,  and  what  faith 
achieves  ?  Think  for  a  moment  of  that  wonderful 
thread  which  now,  by  God's  good  pleasure,  unites 
and  associates  two  distant  continents.  It  was 
FAITH  that  laid  that  wire,  overcoming  the  ele- 
ments, scaling  the  mountains,  and  spanning  the 
unknown  caverns  which  form  the  dark  floor  of  the 
ocean.  It  was  faith,  I  say,  which  for  days  and 
nights  together,  without  one  moment's  intermission, 
kept  the  strong,  untiring  arm,  and  the  fixed, 
watchful  eye,  upon  the  marvellous  appliances,  until 
they  reached  the  haven  where  they  would  be,  and 
had  learnt  that  the  mother  of  many  nations  had 
in  the  flash  of  a  moment  sent  the  greeting  of  love 
to  her  child  in  the  far-off  west.  Meanwhile, 
strange  to  say,  upon  the  shores  of  the  East,  there 
were  other  and  less  harmonious  sounds  to  be  heard 
than  those  of  the  triumph  of  the  victory  of  faith. 
These  were  the  sounds  of  wailing :  Germany 
weeping  for  her  children  because  they  were  not ; 
and  among  ourselves,  thousands  of  hearts  failing 
them    for   fear   of  the  wreck    of   their   substance. 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  31 

And  wherefore  were  these  sounds  of  mourning,  and 
whence  came  this  fear  ?  You  may  trace  them  to 
the  absence  of  Faith.  Nations  and  men  had  lost 
their  faith  in  each  other,  and  the  offspring  of  Dis- 
trust are  War  and  Panic.  Hand  in  hand,  and  close 
by  the  side  of  Faith,  stands  her  sister  HARMONY; 
when  Faith  departs,  Chaos  takes  her  place. 

Thus  you  see  that  the  faith  in  Jesus,  the  trust, 
I  mean,  in  a  sympathising,  personal  Saviour, 
whereby  the  Christian  stands  ;  the  faith  in  Jesus 
whereby  the  sinner  is  purified,  justified,  and  saved, 
is,  after  all,  no  new  principle,  but  rather  the  old 
and  abiding  principle  of  trustfulness,  which  alone 
gives  cohesion  to  our  natural  life.  It  is  the  old 
principle  indeed, —  but  the  old  principle  greatly 
heightened,  intensified,  sanctified  by  the  Spirit  of 
God.  It  is  the  golden  chain  which  unites  the 
visible  world  of  flesh  with  the  unseen  world  of 
spirit,  assuring  the  child  of  nature  that  he  is  also 
the  child  of  God.  Here  then,  again,  and  once 
more,  we  observe  the  CONTINUITY  of  the  natural 
dispensations  of  God's  providence  with  the  spiritual 
dispensation  of  God's  grace  ;  and  herein  it  is  that 
we  know  that  "  what  God  doeth.  He  doeth  it  for 
ever," — "  that  which  hath  been  is  now  ;  and  that 
which  is  to  be  hath  already  been." 

HI.  And  now,  had  the  time  permitted,  as  I 
had   hoped  it  would,  I   should  have  tried  to  show 


32  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  lA  WS  OF 

you  how  even  the  great  doctrine  of  the  sanctifica- 
tlon  of  man's  character  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
effected  for  the  most  part  through  the  medium  of 
prayer,  is  again  all  of  a  piece,  and  in  continuity 
with  other  eternal  principles  which  God  has 
impressed  upon  our  natural  being  ;  but  the  subject 
is  too  large  a  one  for  me  at  this  late  hour  to  draw 
upon  your  patience.  Nevertheless,  some  few 
thoughts  must  be  briefly  expressed  to  you  on  the 

subject    of  PRAYER. 

I  need  scarcely  remind  you  that  it  is  in  prayer 
that  the  true,  the  advanced  Christian  lives.      It  is 
his   soul's  daily,  hourly  food.      But,  after  all,  what 
is  this  prayer?      Is  there   anything  which   at  all 
resembles   it  and   its   effects   in   the  world  of  flesh 
wherein   we   move?      Prayer,   in    its    deep    reality 
and   in  its  highest  form,  is   the   reverential   inter- 
course  of  the  Christian's   spirit  with  the   spiritual 
world  :   it  is   reverential   communion  with   God, — 
communion  with   God   (that  is)   as   manifested   to 
our  apprehension   in   the  person   of  Christ  Jesus. 
Now   let    me   ask   you,  what   takes   place    in   the 
ways  of  a  man's  life,  who   lives  much  in  the  com- 
munion and  society  of  his  friends  ?      Does  he  not 
by  this  intercourse  catch  their  modes  of  thought  ? 
Does    he    not    contract    their    habits,   and    imitate 
their  manner  of  life  ?      And  all   this  result   arises 
from  a  great  principle  of  imitation — a  principle  of 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  2>Z 

imitation,  which   God   for  the  wisest   purpose   has 
implanted   so  fixedly  in  the  nature  of  man.      Just 
so, — only    in     a    higher,    and     holier,    and     more 
reverential  degree, — even  so  with  the  Christian  in 
his    true    prayers    and    in    communion   with    God. 
Just  in  proportion   to  the  reality  and  frequency  of 
this  holy,  spiritual   intercourse,  will  be  the  gradual 
approximation  of  his  own  character  to  that  of  the 
ineffably   perfect   and    Holy    Being   who,   through 
the  great  name   of  Jesus,  permits  and   encourages 
His  creatures  to  approach  Him.      Hence  it  is  that 
we  read   such  words  as  "  growth  in  grace,"  and  of 
the  Christian   being  "  built  up  into  the  measure  of 
the   stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ."      Need  you 
an    example    of   what    I     mean?      Think    for    a 
moment  of  the  Apostle  John  :   in  him,  beyond  all 
other   men,   shine    conspicuously   the   qualities    of 
sincerity    and    dignity    and    love  ;    and    were    not 
these    especially    the    characteristics    of    the    one, 
perfect,   matchless.    Divine    Man,  who    made    the 
Apostle     His    companion,    ever    walking    at    his 
Master's   side  and   leaning  on   His  bosom   as   He 
sat  at   meat,  and   in   the  walk    and   at   the    meal 
catching   the    undertones    of  his    Master's    voice.? 
And  so  it  is,  in  his  own  measure  and  degree,  with 
every  Christian  who  really  communes   with   God  ; 
his    character    becomes    gradually    moulded    into 
the   character   of   Christ ;    and   thus    more   nearly 

D 


34  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LAWS  OF 

resembling    Christ,   he    gradually    becomes    more 
amiable  and  social,  more  truthful,  more  self-con- 
strained,  more    forgiving,   more    peaceful.      I    say 
especially,  more  peaceful.      For,  mark  you,  what  is 
the  Law  of  Prayer  in  the  kingdom  of  God  ?      It 
is  "  men  ought  always  to  pray  and  not  to  faint  ;  " 
it  is   "  in   everything  by  prayer  and   supplication, 
with    thanksgiving,    let    your    requests    be    made 
known  unto  God  :  "  nor  must  we  forget,  that   He 
who  is  our  example  and  "  all  our  hope,"  added  to 
His  own  prayer,  "  nevertheless,  not  my  will,  but 
THINE    be    done."      And    then,    mark    you,   with 
especial    care,   what   is    the  Law  of   the  Promise 
attached   to  prayer.      It  is  not  that  the  bitter  cup 
shall,  in   all  cases,  be  put  away  ;   it  is  not  that  the 
thorn  in  the  flesh  shall,  in  all  cases,  be  removed  ; 
it  is    not  that    the    precise   petitions   shall    be    as 
precisely  granted  ;    but,  better  far    than   this,  the 
Law  of  the  Promise  is,  that   God,  if  need  be,  will 
give  fortitude  to  drink  the  cup,  strength   to  bear 
the    cross,  grace    sufficient   to    endure    the    thorn. 
Beyond   all,  the   Law  of  the   Promise  is,  that  the 
Christian   shall   rise  from   his  knees  peaceful ;    he 
shall  become  peaceful,  like  the  God  of  Peace  with 
whose    Spirit   he    has    held    communion,   and    at 
whose    footstool     he    has     prayed.       "  Let     your 
requests  be  made  known  unto  God,  and  the  PEACE 
OF  God, — the   peace  of  God  which    passeth  all 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  35 

understanding,  shall  garrison  your  hearts  and 
minds."  "  Thou  shalt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace 
whose  mind  is  stayed  on  God." 

In  the  strength  of  this  peace  of  God,  Stephen, 
before  the  face  of  those  who  stoned  him,  fell 
asleep  in  Jesus,  praying,  "  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin 
to  their  charge." 

In  this  peace,  Paul  and  Silas,  thrust  into  the 
prison  with  their  feet  made  fast  in  the  stocks,  at 
midnight  sang  praises  unto  God. 

In  this  peace,  Polycarp  bade  the  executioner 
leave  him  unbound  at  the  stake,  for  that  same 
God,  in  communion  with  whom  he  had  lived, 
would  nerve  him,  that  he  flinched  not  when  he 
died. 

In  this  peace,  Boniface,  the  martyr  and  apostle 
to  the  Germans,  before  setting  out  on  his  last 
missionary  journey,  bravely  but  calmly  thus  gave 
his  final  instructions  :  "  My  son,  place  in  the 
chest  with  my  books  a  linen  cloth,  in  which, 
should  occasion  arise,  they  may  wrap  my  worn- 
out  corpse." 

In  this  peace,  Luther  stood  before  his  enemies, 
and  the  enemies  of  truth,  at  the  Diet  of  Worms, 
and,  taking  the  Bible  in  his  hands,  exclaimed, 
"  By  this  I  stand  !  " 

In  this  peace,  Rowland  Taylor,  of  Hadley, 
walked  to  the  stake  with  head  erect   and   hopeful 


36         CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LAWS  OF  NATURE 

eye,  as  a  man  would   return  to  the  home  that  he 

loved. 

In  this  peace,  Ridley  looked  forward  with  joy 
to  the  flames,  and  bade  his  sister  come  to  his 
marriage. 

In  this  peace,  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
God's  children,  far  from  the  gaze  and  the 
applause  of  the  crowd,  have  kept  the  even  tenor 
of  a  Christian  life,  in  prosperity  without  elation, 
in  penury  without  discontent,  in  bereavements 
without  questionings,  in  suffering  without  repining, 
in  revilings  without  reviling  again. 

These  all  lived  in  prayer  and  communion  with 
God,  and,  like  God,  they  became  peaceful  ;  and 
after  this  law,  so  it  may  be  with  you  and  me,  for 
"  /  know  that  whatsoever  God  doeth,  it  shall  be  for 
ever :  nothing  can  be  put  to  it,  nor  any  thijig  taken 
from  it :  and  God  doeth  it  that  men  shoidd  fear 
before  Him.  That  ivhich  hath  been  is  now  ;  and 
that  whieh  is  to  be  hath  already  been.'' 


APPENDIX 
Note  A 

ON    THE    ORIGIN   OF    SPECIES   BY  NATURAL   SELECTION 

I  HAVE  taken  the  liberty  of  expressing  my  admiration  of 
Sir  W.  Grove's  philosophical  acumen  in  grouping  together 
the  plan  and  operations  of  nature  under  one  felicitous 
term.  He  is,  I  am  sure,  far  too  candid  in  his  address 
to  the  British  Association,  he  has  travelled  over  far  too 
wide  a  field,  and  he  is  too  conscious  of  the  difficulties 
attending  physical  researches,  not  to  be  prepared  for 
objections  to  at  least  some  of  his  remarks. 

He  appears  to  have  accepted  the  Darwinian  Hypo- 
thesis as  explaining  the  origin  of  that  Continuity  which 
undoubtedly  exists  in  the  natural  world.  I,  for  one,  am 
unable  to  accept  that  Hypothesis,  at  all  events  in  its 
length  and  breadth,  without  some  reserve.  As  an  illus- 
tration of  the  general  nature  of  the  objections  which  I 
entertain,  I  will  take  an  instance  from  that  branch  of 
physics  with  which  it  is  my  lot  to  be  most  familiar ;  the 
Optical  Structure  of  the  Human  Eye.  From  the  cornea 
to  the  retina,  the   eye  is  an  Optical  Instrument.     But 


38  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LA  WS  OF 

what  an  Instrument !  The  computation  of  the  curves 
and  distances  of  the  refracting  surfaces  in  this  instrument, 
and  the  assigning  of  the  proper  law  of  density  for  the 
several  layers  in  its  principal  lens,  would  require  the 
application  of  a  mathematical  analysis,  such  as  I  hesitate 
not  to  say  was  never  yet  possessed  by  a  human  geometer. 
The  mechanism  required  for  instantaneously  changing 
the  forms  and  distances,  and  in  one  instance  the  magni- 
tude, of  its  component  parts,  would  require  a  handicraft 
such  as  never  yet  was  possessed  by  a  human  mechanic. 
I  say  nothing  of  the  chemistry  required  for  the  composi- 
tion of  the  several  constituent  media.  I  presume  Mr. 
Darwin  would  admit  that  this  description  is  not  exag- 
gerated. Now  let  us  attend  to  the  process  of  "  natural 
selection,"  by  which  this  marvellous  organ  is  said  to  have 
come  into  being.  "I  can  see,"  says  Mr.  Darwin,^  "no 
very  great  difficulty  (not  more  than  in  the  case  of  many 
other  structures),  in  believing  that  natural  selection  has 
converted  the  simple  apparatus  of  an  optic  nerve,  merely 
coated  with  pigment  and  invested  by  transparent  mem- 
branes, into  an  optical  instrument  as  perfect  as  is  pos- 
sessed by  any  member  of  the  great  Articulate  Class,"  i.e. 
as  perfect  as  the  human  eye.  And  next  comes  the 
mode  after  which  this  simple  apparatus  of  the  coated 
nerve,  by  insensible  additions  gradually  but  accidentally 
made,  is  said  to  be  converted  at  length  into  the  eye  of 
man.  "  We  ought  in  imagination  to  take  a  thick  layer 
of  transparent  tissue  with  a  nerve  sensitive  to  light 
beneath,  and  then  suppose  every  part  of  this  layer  to  be 
continually  changing  slowly  in  density,  so  as  to  separate 
into  layers  of  different  densities  and  thicknesses,  placed 

^  Origin  of  Species,  istedit. ,  pp.  i88,  189. 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  39 

at  different  distances  from  each  other,  and  with  the 
surfaces  of  each  layer  slowly  changing  in  form.  Further, 
we  must  suppose  that  there  is  a  power  always  intently 
watching  each  slightly  accidental  alteration  in  the  trans- 
parent layers,  and  carefully  selecting  each  alteration 
w^hich,  under  varied  circumstances,  may,  in  any  way,  or 
in  any  degree,  tend  to  produce  a  distincter  image.  We 
must  suppose  each  new  state  of  the  instrument  to  be 
multiplied  by  the  million,  and  each  to  be  preserved  till 
a  better  be  produced,  and  then  the  old  ones  to  be 
destroyed.  Let  this  process  go  on  for  millions  on 
millions  of  years.  ..."  Now  we  must  here  ask,  What 
is  this  "power  always  intently  watching  each  slightly 
accidental  alteration?"  A  few  hnes  further  down  in 
Mr.  Darwin's  page  we  read :  "  Natural  selection 
will  pick  out  with  unerring  skill  each  improvement." 
But  what  is  this  "  Natural  Selection  ?  "  We  must  here 
take  Mr.  Darwin's  ow^n  definition  :  "  This  preservation 
of  favourable  variations,  and  the  rejection  of  injurious 
variations,  I  call  Natural  Selection."  ^ 

Now  to  me  there  appear  three  objections,  which 
indispose  me  to  accept  the  above  description  of  the  pro- 
cesses by  which  the  human  eye  could  have  been  formed, 
and  I  w411  state  them  as  succinctly  as  I  can.  First, 
consistently  with  such  knowledge  of  optical  combinations 
as  I  happen  to  possess,  I  cannot  understand  how,  by 
any  series  of  accidental  variations,  so  complicated  a 
structure  as  an  eye  could  possibly  have  been  successively 
improved.  The  chances  of  any  accidental  variation  in 
such  an  instrument  being  an  improvenioit  are  small 
indeed.     Suppose,  for  instance,  one  of  the  surfaces  of 

1  Origin  of  Species,  p.  8r. 


40  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LA  IVS  OF 

the  crystalline  lens  of  the  eye  of  a  creature,  possessing 
a  crystalline  and  cornea,  to  be  accidentally  altered,  then 
I  say,  that  unless  the  form  of  the  other  surface  is 
simultaneously  altered,  in  one  only  way  out  of  millions 
of  possible  ways,  the  eye  would  not  be  optically  improved. 
An  alteration  also  in  the  two  surfaces  of  the  crystalline 
lens,  whether  accidental  or  otherwise,  would  involve  a 
definite  alteration  in  the  form  of  the  cornea,  or  in  the 
distance  of  its  surface  from  the  centre  of  the  crystalline 
lens,  in  order  that  the  eye  may  be  optically  better.  All 
these  alterations  must  be  simultaneous  and  definite  in 
amount,  and  these  definite  amounts  must  co-exist  in 
obedience  to  an  extremely  complicated  law.  To  my 
apprehension,  then,  that  so  complex  an  instrument  as  an 
eye  should  undergo  a  succession  of  millions  of  improve- 
inejits^  by  means  of  a  succession  of  millions  of  accidental 
alterations,  is  not  less  improbable  than  if  all  the  letters 
in  the  Origin  of  Species  were  placed  in  a  box,  and  on 
being  shaken  and  poured  out  millions  on  millions  of 
times,  they  should  at  last  come  out  together  in  the  order 
in  which  they  occur  in  that  fascinating  and,  in  general, 
highly  philosophical  work. 

But  my  objections  do  not  stop  here.  The  improve- 
ment of  an  organ  must  be  an  improvement  relative  to 
the  new  circumstances  by  which  the  organ  is  surrounded. 
Suppose,  then,  that  an  eye  is  altered  for  the  better  in 
relation  to  one  set  of  circumstances  under  which  it  is 
placed.  By  and  by  there  arise  a  second  set  of  circum- 
stances, a  second  environment,  as  it  is  termed,  and  the 
eye  is  again,  by  Natural  Selection,  altered  and  improved 
relatively  to  the  second  set  of  circumstances.  What  is 
there  to  make  the  second  set  of  circumstances  such  that 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  41 

the  second  improvement  (relative  to  them)  shall  be  an 
improvement  or  progress  /;/  the  direction  of  the  ultimate 
goal  of  the  human  eye  ?  Why  should  not  the  second 
improvement  be  a  retrogression  away  from  the  ultimate 
organ  now  possessed  by  man,  and  necessary  to  his  well- 
being?  But  all  this  suiting  of  the  succession  of  circum- 
stances is  to  go  on,  not  once  or  twice,  but  millions  on 
millions  of  times.  If  this  be  so,  then  not  only  must 
there  be  a  bias  in  the  order  of  the  succession  of  the 
circumstances,  or,  at  all  events,  in  the  vast  outnumbering 
of  the  unfavourable  circumstances  by  the  favourable ; 
but  so  strong  a  bias,  as  to  remove  the  whole  process 
from  the  accidental  to  the  intentional  The  bias  ^  implies 
the  existence  of  a  Law,  a  Mind,  a  Will.  The  process 
becomes  one  not  of  Natural  Selection,  but  of  Selection 
arranged  by  an  hitelligent  Will 

In  considering  the  state  of  things  just  described,  we 
must  also  take  into  the  account,  that  the  successive 
variations  of  the  eye  are  said  to  be  accidental  What, 
then,  but  a  co?istantly  exerted  Intelligent  Will  could  cause 
the  occurrence  of  new  circumstances  so  as  to  meet  these 
accidental  variations,  and  concur  ultimately  to  produce 
a  certain  definite  result,  that  is  to  say,  an  instrument 
possessing  the  necessary  and  truly  wonderful  contriv- 
ances of  the  Human  Eye  ?  But  is  such  a  process  to  be 
called  Providence,  or  Miracle,  or  the  Inversion  of 
Providence  ? 

Further  still.  Mr.  Darwin  considers  that  the  process 
of  natural  selection  must  have  gone  on  for  millions  on 
millions  of  years,  in  order  to  have  produced  the  results 

^  On  this   subject  of  bias,   see  a  highly  philosophical   review  of 
"  Quetelet  on  Probabilities,"  in  Sir  John  Herschel's  Essays. 


42  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LA  IVS  OF 

which  surround  us.  It  is  difficult  to  assign  any  approxi- 
mate hmitation  to  the  meaning  of  the  term  milhons  on 
milHons  of  years.  But  in  turning  to  page  287  of  the 
Origin  of  Species,  I  find  the  author  considers  that  the 
denudation  of  the  Weald  must  have  required  some  three 
hundred  millions  of  years  !  This  denudation  is  but  a 
trivial  process,  indeed,  compared  with  the  mighty  geo- 
logical evolutions  which  have  occurred  between  that 
denudation  and  the  present  time,  and  inconceivably 
trivial  compared  with  other  evolutions  which  preceded 
it.  Mr.  Darwin  says,  page  489,  "As  all  the  living  forms 
of  life  are  the  lineal  descendants  of  those  which  lived 
long  before  the  Silurian  epoch,  we  may  feel  certain  that 
the  ordinary  succession  by  generation  has  never  once 
been  broken,  and  that  no  cataclysm  has  desolated  the  whole 
world.  Hence  we  may  look  with  some  confidence  to  a 
secure  future  of  equally  inappreciable  length" 

If  then  we  assign  a  period  of  one  million  of  millions  of 
years  to  have  elapsed,  during  which  natural  selection  has 
worked  for  the  productionof  a  human  eye,  we  may  presume 
we  are  within  the  limits  contemplated  by  Mr.  Darwin. 

Now,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  this  assumption  is  en- 
tirely out  of  harmony  with  the  existing  state  of  knowledge. 

For  during  the  deposition  of  the  Silurian  strata,  there 
must  have  been  a  deep  ocean,  and  terrestrial  things  were 
then  proceeding,  Mr.  Darwin  says,  on  pretty  much  the 
same  quiet  model  as  at  present.  But  it  has  been  rendered 
extremely  probable  by  the  researches  of  Adams,  Hansen, 
Delaunay,  Airy,^  and  some  others,  that  owing  to  the  com- 
bined action  of  the  ocean  and  the  moon,  the  length  of  the 
day  has  been,  and  is  now,  undergoing  a  constant  increase. 
^  Add  to  these  names,  Professor  G.  Darwin,  1S89. 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  43 

On  reading  Mr.  Darwin's  enchanting  volume,  we 
seem  to  be,  as  it  were,  in  the  hands  of  a  great  magician, 
who  leads  us  up  and  down  Elysian  fields,  pointing  out 
to  us  on  this  side  and  on  that  new  aspects  of  things 
which,  though  true,  were  beyond  the  reach  of  our  ex- 
pectations ;  nevertheless,  when,  as  we  hope,  we  are  near- 
ing  the  hill -top  and  getting  a  sight  of  the  primordial 
genesis  of  organised  beings,  the  chariot  on  which  he  has 
mounted  us  rolls  down  the  hill  like  the  stone  of  Sisyphus. 

' '  With  hands  and  feet  struggHng,  he  shoved  the  stone 
Up  a  hill-top  ;  but  the  steep  wellnigh 
Vanquished,  by  some  great  force  repulsed,  the  mass 
Rushed  again  obstinate  down  to  the  plain. 

Tall  trees,  fruit  laden,  with  inflected  heads 
Stooped  to  us  ;  pears,  pomegranates,  apples  bright, 
The  luscious  figs,  and  unctuous  olive  smooth, 
Which,  when  with  sudden  grasp  we  would  have  seized, 
Winds  whirled  them  high  into  the  dusky  clouds." 

Odyssey,  Book  xi. 


Note  B 
on  prayer 

"  In  it  did  he  live, 
And  by  it  did  he  live  ;  it  was  his  life. 
His  mind  was  a  thanksgiving  to  the  power 
That  made  him  ;  it  was  blessedness  and  love  ! " 

Wordsworth. 

Some  months  (1866)  have  now  elapsed  since  Professor 
Tyndal,  in  the  public  journals,  put  a  question  regarding 
prayer,  which  at  the  time  excited  much  attention  and 
some  animadversion.      In  reference  to  the  propriety  of 


44  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LA  IVS  OF 

prayer  to  God  for  the  removal  of  epidemic  and  other 
diseases,  Dr.  Tyndal  asked  whether  "  Prayer  had  proved 
itself  a  match  for  vaccination  ?  "  Various  answers  were 
given  to  this  question,  and  to  the  other  questions  which 
this  one  essentially  involves  ;  I  will  now,  after  my  manner, 
endeavour  to  give  my  own  reply. 

In  one  of  those  exquisite  Dialogues  which  have  come 
down  to  us  from  the  wisest  of  the  ancients  for  an  ever- 
lasting possession,  whether  actually  written  by  Plato 
himself  or  by  a  heathen  follower  matters  not,  Socrates 
is  represented  as  meeting  a  great  statesman  in  the  streets 
of  Athens,  on  his  way  to  the  temple  of  some  god  to  pray. 
The  nature  of  his  errand  was  manifest  from  the  chaplet 
which  he  carried  in  his  hand,  while  the  gravity  with 
which  he  kept  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  ground,  indicated 
that  the  object  of  the  vow  he  was  about  to  offer  was,  in 
the  statesman's  thought,  one  of  more  than  ordinary  im- 
portance. Whether  it  was  that  Socrates  well  knew  the 
restless  ambition  of  Alcibiades  (for  that  was  the  states- 
man's name),  and  therefore  suspected  that  his  friend  and 
disciple,  having  some  unscrupulous  project  on  foot,  was 
now  on  his  way  to  conciliate  the  good-will  of  the  god  for 
its  accomplishment,  or  whether  the  mere  sight  of  the 
sacrificial  chaplet  alone  suggested  the  thought,  we  are 
told  that  the  sage  immediately  stopped  the  statesman, 
and,  as  his  wont  ever  was,  began  to  ply  him  with  a 
string  of  questions,  the  drift  of  the  questions  now  being 
directed  to  the  proper  objects  and  the  propriety  of 
prayer.  "  Do  you  think,"  said  he,  "  that  the  gods  some- 
times grant  and  sometimes  refuse  our  prayers  ?  Do  you 
see  that  there  are  very  many  foolish  men, — some  of 
them  foolish  even  to   madness, — and    that    such  men 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  45 

necessarily  offer  to  the  gods  very  foolish  prayers  ?  Do 
you  think  there  is  no  danger,  that  while  you  ask  for 
what  you  believe  will  be  for  your  good,  you  may  inad- 
vertently be  seeking  for  what,  if  granted,  would  be  your 
ruin  ?  "  And  then  he  goes  on  to  ask  him  what  sort  of 
knowledge  a  man  should  properly  possess  before  it  was 
safe  for  him  to  pray  to  the  gods.  Should  it  not  be  the 
knowledge  of  what  is  the  best  ?  And  are  they  many,  or 
are  they  few,  who  possess  this  knowledge  ?  And  if  they 
have  not  this  knowledge,  how  do  they  know  what  they 
ought  to  pray  for  ?  Hereupon  Alcibiades  confesses  him- 
self perplexed,  and  says,  "  he  inclines  to  leave  the  choice 
of  blessings  to  the  gods."  Socrates  then  digresses  to 
questions  regarding  that  state  of  the  suppliant's  mind 
which  is  most  agreeable  to  the  god  ;  and  after  recounting 
an  anecdote  or  two,  of  how  a  certain  costly  and  magnifi- 
cent national  ritual  had  been  disregarded  by  the  gods, 
while  they  had  lent  a  propitious  ear  to  a  very  simple 
prayer,  he  quotes  a  few  lines  from  Homer,  to  the  effect 
that  "  the  gods  care  not  for  our  gifts,  but  they  do  regard 
the  state  of  our  souls." 

The  sage  then  proceeds  to  tell  the  statesman  that 
there  was  indeed  one  prayer  which  seemed  to  him  both 
wise  and  safe ;  he  had  learned  it,  he  says,  from  an  old 
poet,  who  had  recommended  it  to  his  friends  who  were 
praying  unwisely,  and  it  was  to  the  following  effect : — 
"  Sovereign  Jove,  what  is  good  for  tis,  grant,  though  ive  ask 
it  not ;  but  from  what  is  dangerous,  though  we  ask  for  it, 
O  King,  deliver  us!''^     Even  to  us  in  this  nineteenth 

^  ZeO  (iaaiXev  rd  /xev  icrdXa  Kal  evxofj-epois  kul  dvevKTOLS 
'AfJ-fil  dtdov,  ra  5e  decva,  Kal  evxofx^voLs  aTroXe^ov. 

Plato,  A/ci3.  ii.  p.  143. 


46  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LA  WS  OF 

century,  these  are  burning  words,  reminding  us  of  words 
familiar  and  more  burning  still,  and  one  might  have  sup- 
posed they  would  have  satisfied  Alcibiades.  He  does 
indeed  go  so  far  as  to  admit  that  the  prayer  was  both 
wise  and  safe,  but  Alcibiades  was  an  Athenian,  and  "  the 
Greeks  seek  after  wisdom."  To  them,  all  ignorance 
was,  as  it  still  is  to  some  modern  philosophers,  a  positive 
evil ;  and  this  prayer,  safe  as  it  was,  seemed  little  better 
than  an  appeal  to,  or  it  might  be  even  the  offspring  of, 
ignorance.  Thereupon  ensues  a  series  of  questions  as 
to  human  ignorance,  but  these  I  omit  as  not  being 
essential  to  our  present  argument ;  and  I  now  come  to 
a  thought  which  to  some  of  my  readers  will  appear  not 
alone  unexpected,  but  even  startling,  as  proceeding  from 
a  heathen  philosopher  more  than  two  thousand  years 
ago. 

"  Alcibiades,  you  are  perplexed  and  even  disappointed^ 
but  you  must  wait,"  said  Socrates;  "you  must  wait  till 
there  comes  some  one  who  shall  be  instructed  how  to 
remove  this  ignorance."  "And  when  will  this  time 
come  ? "  asks  the  statesman  \  "  and  who  shall  be  my 
teacher  ?  "  "  It  is  even  one  who  cares  for  you ^^^  ^  replies 
the  sage ;  "  as  Homer  says  that  Minerva  removed  the 
mist  from  the  eyes  of  Diomede, 

' ' '  That  he  might  well  discern  if  the  shape  were  a  god  or  a  mortal ; ' 

so  must  this  teacher  remove  the  mist  which  now 
envelops  your  mind,  that  you  may  discern  what  is 
good  and  what  is  evil,  which  at  present,  methinks,  you 
have  no  power  to  see."  "Well,  then,"  said  Alcibiades, 
"  if  only  he  makes  me  better,  let  him  remove  the  mist, 

1  See  Motto  facin":  the  Preface. 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  47 

or  whatever  else  it  may  be,  and  whosoever  this  man 
maybe."  "And  he  will  do  it,"  rejoins  Socrates,  "for 
it  is  marvellous  how  great  is  the  regard  he  bears  you." 
"It  seems,  then,"  concludes  Alcibiades,  "that  till  this 
teacher  comes,  I  had  better  defer  my  prayer." 

Such,  then,  was  the  knowledge,  such  were  the  hopes, 
and  such  was  the  indecision  of  the  best-informed  among 
the  ancients,  on  the  subject  of  prayer.  So  deep,  so 
irrepressible,  so  unsatisfied,  appears  to  have  been  the 
longing  of  the  great  thinkers  of  the  heathen  world  for 
the  advent  of  some  teacher  who  should  throw  a  light 
upon  the  relations  in  which  men  stand  to  the  world 
unseen,  that  the  thought  of  it,  we  are  told,  recurred  to 
the  martyr  sage  when  there  remained  but  an  hour  or 
two  before  the  fatal  cup  was  to  set  the  seal  to  the 
sincerity  of  his  life.  But  it  was  not  now,  as  before,  the 
need  and  the  hope  of  a  teacher  who  should  inform  him 
how  to  demean  himself  before  the  god  at  the  time  of 
his  prayer,  or  even  what  it  was  safe  for  him  to  pray  for, 
but  it  was  now  rather  the  utterance  of  the  longing  for 
a  teacher  who  should  deliver  his  friends, — not  himself, 
observe,  but  his  friends, — from  the  fear  of  death.  It 
even  might  be  that  Socrates  suspected  the  two  teachers 
would  be  one  and  the  same.  "  It  is  not  ourselves,"  said 
his  friend  Cebes  in  the  prison,  "  that  are  frightened,  it  is 
rather  a  child  within  us  that  is  terrified ;  but,  alas  !  now 
that  you  are  about  to  leave  us,  where  shall  we  find  one 
who  is  master  of  a  spell  sufficient  to  remove  this  fear  ?  "  ^ 
"Greece  is  a  Avide  place,"  replies  the  calm,  heroic  old 
man,  "and  there  are  many  foreign  nations  also,  and  in 
search  of  this  teacher  we  must  explore  many  regions, 
1  Plato,  PJiccdo,  §§  60,  61. 


48  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LA  WS  OF 

and  spare  neither  trouble  nor  money  in  the  search ;  and 
you  must  search  also  amongst  yourselves  for  this  gift, 
for,  perhaps,  you  will  not  easily  find  any  one  who  pos- 
sesses this  power  more  than  you  do."  And  these  are 
among  the  last  words  of  the  wisest  of  men,  spoken  while 
they  who  had  the  appointed  office  were  even  now  pre- 
paring the  hemlock  that  was  to  consign  him  to  his  doom. 
It  is  here  that,  with  a  sort  of  passionate  impatience, 
our  thoughts  glance  across  the  breadth  of  but  a  narrow 
sea,  from  Athens  and  from  the  utterance  of  these  dim 
hopes,  to  where  the  last  of  a  long  line  of  Hebrew  pro- 
phets at  that  very  time  was  speaking,  as  his  bretliren  for 
a  thousand  years  had  spoken  before  him,  of  the  advent  of 
such  a  teacher,  yet  more  than  a  teacher,  and  that  with  no 
stammering  Hps,  but  as  if  he  were  nigh  at  the  very  door. 
"You  must  search  for  him,  you  must  spend  your  labour 
and  your  money  in  the  search,"  said  the  dying  sage,  and 
he  said  it  possibly  from  something  beyond  the  natural  con- 
victions of  his  pohshed  intellect.^  "  Behold  !  He  shall 
come,  the  messenger  whom  ye  seek  shall  come  !  the  Sun 
of  Righteousness  shall  arise  with  healing  in  his  wings  ! " 
These  were  the  last  words  of  the  last  of  the  expiring  race 
of  the  Hebrew  Seers ;  and  he  spoke  from  the  inspired 
emotions  of  his  heart.  For  four  hundred  years  there 
was  no  more  such  Sage,  nor  for  four  hundred  years  was 
the  voice  heard  of  any  such  Prophet. 

To  Doctor  Tyndall's  question,  and  what  it  involves, 

the  words  quoted  above  give  nearly  all  the  answer  which 

Natural    Religion   can    supply.      It    may,    however,    be 

added  that  the  scheme  of  Continuity  observable   in 

.  nature  cannot  but  force  upon  our  minds  the  contem- 

1  Was  his  Adt^wi'  an  influence  from  the  Divine  illuminating  \\'ord  ? 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  49 

plation  of  the  existence  of  created  intelligences  superior 
to  ourselves,  and  active  with  a  diviner  energy,  in  some 
other  parts  of  the  universe,  or  even  close  to  our  paths 
or  nigh  to  our  beds,  and  so  onwards  and  onwards,  until 
we  reach  the  One  Infinitely  Intelligent  and  Beneficent 
Mind,  the  Lord  and  Creator  of  them  all.  And  here, 
again,  the  scheme  of  Correlation  steps  in,  and  inas- 
much as  it  has  been  shown  to  apply  as  closely  to  the 
laws  of  our  moral  nature  as  to  the  laws  of  our  physical 
being,  it  affords  to  us  something  more  than  the  dawn  of 
a  hope  that  inasmuch  as  there  is  implanted  within  our 
universal  nature  a  principle  or  affection  for  religion,  and 
a  yearning  for  intercourse  with  some  spiritual  essences 
beyond  ourselves,  so  there  must  be,  in  correlation  to 
this  affection  and  this  yearning,  some  proper  object  for 
that  affection  to  adore,  and  some  spirits  to  reciprocate 
the  sympathies  of  that  yearning. 

Now  "  in  this  darkness  or  this  light  of  nature,  call  it 
which  you  please,"  the  Christian  points  to  that  Teacher 
for  the  advent  of  whom  the  ancient  sages  longed.  To 
that  Divine  Teacher's  Word  the  Christian  must  listen, 
and  that  example  which  He  set,  the  Christian  must  strive 
to  follow.  It  is  needless  to  say  this  Divine  Alan  was 
pre-eminently  a  man  of  prayer ;  and  if  you  ask  how  and 
for  what  He  prayed,  and  what  He  declared  was  the  Law 
of  Prayer  in  the  new  kingdom  which  He  said  He  came 
to  establish,  it  will  all  be  found  in  the  records  of  His  life, 
and  some  small  portion  of  it  has  been  indicated  in  the 
Address  which  precedes  this  note.  The  remark,  how- 
ever, may  here  be  added,  for  it  bears  especially  on  the 
question  before  us  :  there  once  came  an  hour  when  the 
approach  of  physical  suffering  appalled  even  that  Man 

E 


50  CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LA  WS  OF 

of  Strength,  and  His  prayer  then  was,  that  God  His 
Father,  if  possible,  would  remove  the  cup,  but  if  not, 
"Thy  \vill  be  done."  I  could  say  more  than  this,  if 
in  reverence  and  propriety  I  dared,  for  I  could  refer  to 
those  strong,  sad,  mysterious  cryings  upon  the  Cross 
when  the  Teacher  whom  the  sages  unconsciously  longed 
for,  the  Saviour  of  the  World,  was  bruised  for  our 
iniquities,  and  was  bearing  the  chastisement  of  our  sins  : 
but  the  theme  is  too  sacred,  and  our  natural  emotions 
are  neither  to  be  tempted  nor  trusted  here. 

When,  then,  Dr.  Tyndall  asks  whether  it  is  right  to 
pray  for  the  aversion  of  cholera,  or  of  smallpox,  or  of 
physical  suffering  of  any  sort,  or  whether  vaccination 
proved  a  match  for  prayer,  I  have  given  the  answer, 
partly  here,  and  partly  in  the  Address. 

But  how  know  we  that  the  Teacher  has  come,  and 
that  His  religion  comes  from  God  ?  For  the  learned  we 
appeal  to  the  testimony  of  history ;  for  the  learned  and 
unlearned  alike  there  is  this  better  evidence — Try  it.^ 

If  it  be  still  further  urged  that  the  scheme  of  nature 
is  carried  on  by  fixed  unalterable  laws,  and  that  the 
storm  whose  cradle  is  in  the  Atlantic  must  spend  its 
fury  on  the  very  spot  where  the  laws  of  heat  and  of 
vapour  bid  it ;  if  it  be  said  that  the  path  of  the  cholera, 
the  cattle  plague,  the  smallpox,  is  as  surely  prepared 
beforehand  and  as  inevitably  as  is  the  path  of  the  electric 
flash — be  it  so  ; — but  whence  know  we  that  intervention 
is  impossible  ?  I  see  at  this  moment  a  bud  on  one  of 
the  trees  which  skirt  the  boundary  of  my  neighbour's 
land.  I  know  that  when  that  bud  has  become  a  branch 
next  year  it  is  certain  from  the  laws  of  nature  on  what 
^   This  is  the  practical  argument  somewhere  proposed  by  Coleridge. 


NATURE  AND  REVELATION  51 

precise  spots,  and  at  what  precise  moments,  the  several 
leaves  of  that  branch  will  fall.  But  not  so ;  my  neigh- 
bour next  year  may  erect  his  haystack  close  by  that  tree, 
and  then  all  is  changed.  But  is  not  the  whole  life  of 
man  spent  in  contriving  interventions  of  those  conse- 
quences which  would  follow  if  the  laws  of  nature  took 
their  own  course  independent  of  his  will  ?  By  the  force 
of  the  genius  which  the  Creator  has  given  him,  does  he 
not  harness  the  winds  and  guide  the  lightning,  and  make 
fire,  and  air,  and  earth,  and  water,  do  the  bidding  of  his 
intelligent  desires?  Does  not  the  law  of  Continuity, 
then,  lead  us  to  expect  that  the  Will  of  the  Creator  must 
be  at  least  as  free  to  intervene  as  is  the  will  of  the 
creature  ? 

I  will  conclude  this  long  note  by  referring  to  the 
sentiments  entertained  on  this  subject  by  one  of  the 
most  acute  and  independent  minds  that  ever  existed. 
It  is  said  of  the  great  philosopher  Coleridge,  that  in  one 
of  his  youthful  poems,  speaking  of  God,  he  writes — 

"...   Of  whose  all-seeing  eye 
Aught  to  demand  were  impotence  of  mind  !  " 

But  in  his  maturer  years  he  told  one  of  his  friends 
that  he  reverted  to  this  sentiment  with  strong  com- 
punction. He  considered  that  the  act  of  praying  was 
the  very  highest  energy  of  which  the  human  heart  was 
capable,  praying,  that  is,  with  the  total  concentration  of 
the  faculties ;  and  the  great  mass  of  worldly  men  and  of 
learned  men  he  pronounced  absolutely  incapable  of 
prayer.  Two  years  before  his  death  he  said,  "Believe 
me,  to  pray  with  all  your  heart  and  strength,  with  the 
reason  and  the  will,   to  believe  vividly  that  God  will 


52        CONTINUITY  OF  THE  LAWS  OF  NATURE 

listen  to  your  voice  through  Christ,  and  verily  do  the 
thing  He  pleaseth  thereupon, — this  is  the  last,  the 
greatest  achievement  of  the  Christian  warfare  upon  earth. 
Teach  us  to  pray,  O  Lord."  And  then  he  burst  into  a 
flood  of  tears. 


II 

THE    ANALOGY    OF 

INTELLECTUAL    PROGRESS    OF 

RELIGIOUS    GROWTH 

A  Discourse  delivered  oy  Request  in  the  Episcopal  Church  of  St, 
Paul,  on  the  Occasion  of  the  Meeting  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion at  Dundee. 


PREFACE 

In  this  second  sermon,  addressed  principally  to 
members  of  the  British  Association,  I  have,  as  in 
the  former  discourse  at  Nottingham,  endeavoured 
to  avoid  the  discussion  of  controverted  points, 
whether  in  Physics  or  in  Theology.  The  brief 
hour  allotted  to  the  preacher  is  too  sacred  for 
such  topics  ;  and  there  are  many  simple,  yet  far- 
reaching  thoughts  connected  with  our  Holy 
Religion  and  our  common  being,  which  come 
home  alike  to  the  Philosopher  and  the  Theo- 
logian, to  the  learned  and  to  the  man  who  is 
unversed  in  books.  Hence  in  both  the  sermons 
I  have  sought  rather  to  illustrate  the  analogies  of 
Natural  to  Revealed  Knowledge,  than  to  reconcile 
any  presumed  discrepancies  between  them  ;  and 
these  I  am  convinced  are  rather  apparent  than  real. 
With  regard  to  the  former,  that  is  to  say  the 
analogies,  Origen  ^   pointed   out  long  ago  that  He 

1  Quoted  by  Bishop  Butler,  but  restricted  l)y  him  to  its  applica- 
tion to  the  analogy  of  difficulties. 


56        AJVALOGV  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS 

who  is  the  Author  of  Nature,  and  He  who  has 
revealed  to  man  as  much  as  it  is  essential  for  him 
to  know  of  the  Spiritual  Creation,  being  one  and 
the  same,  we  may  reasonably  expect  to  find  not 
only  a  similarity  of  difficulty,  but  a  similarity  also 
of  arrangement  in  nature  and  in  grace.  If  this 
be  true,  the  well-instructed  Christian  will  welcome 
every  fresh  accession  to  our  knowledge  of  natural 
things,  because  he  will  expect  to  find  something 
of  its  counterpart  in  the  world  of  spirit,  opened 
to  man  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

With  regard  to  the  other  point,  namely,  the 
apparent  discrepancies,  another  great  father^  in 
the  Ancient  Church,  with  a  sagacity  equal  perhaps 
to  that  of  Origen,  anticipated  the  need,  now  be- 
ginning to  be  so  closely  felt,  of  a  reconsideration, 
from  experience,  of  the  proper  interpretation  to 
be  put  upon  some  passages  of  Holy  Writ,  to 
which  hitherto  we  may  have  unavoidably  attached, 
from  ignorance,  a  too  narrow  and  restricted 
meaning.  It  may  be  that  similar  successive  en- 
largements of  our  natural  knowledge,  associated 
with  similar  enlarged  conceptions  of  the  meaning 
of  the  Scriptures,  will  proceed  together  to  the  end 
of  the  probation  of  mankind  ;  to  that  promised 
time,  in  fact,  when  "  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 

^  Augustine,  Confess. ,  xii,  etc. 


THE  ANALOGY 

OF    INTELLECTUAL    PROGRESS 

TO    RELIGIOUS    GROWTH 

"I  say  unto  you,  Unto  every  one  which  hath  shall  be  given." 
Luke  xix.  26. 

Twelve  months  ago,  on  an  occasion  and  before 
an  audience  similar  to  this,  I  endeavoured  to 
show  that  the  main  principles  divinely  implanted 
in  man  for  the  maintenance  and  discharge  of  his 
social  relations,  are  of  a  like  kind  with  those 
which  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  declared 
necessary  to  save  him  from  the  consequences 
and  the  power  of  sin,  and  restore  him  to  the 
favour  and  the  image  of  God, 

In  the  redemption  of  Mankind,  for  instance, 
by  a  suffering  Redeemer,  I  there  traced  the 
highest  and  the  noblest  form, — the  divine  climax 
in  fact, — of  that  human,  friendly  help,  which  it  is 
necessary  for  one  man  to  extend  to  his  brother  ; 


58        ANALOGY  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS 

sometimes  in  order  to  place  him  in  the  station 
that  becomes  him,  and  at  other  times  to  save  him 
from  temporal  ruin  :  and  I  observed,  moreover, 
that  this  friendly,  necessary  help  is  commonly 
bestowed  not  without  great  difficulty  and  suffering 
and  loss  to  the  interposer  himself  The  very 
constitution  of  society,  in  fact,  is  cemented  and 
maintained  by  one  grand  scheme  of  Natural 
Mediation. 

Faith,  also,  in  a  personal  and  ever-living 
Saviour,  I  showed  was  no  new  or  mysterious 
principle  unknown  to  the  natural  sympathies  of 
man,  but  rather  is  the  old  and  abiding  principle 
of  that  trustfulness  of  one  man  in  another,  which 
alone  gives  cohesion  to  our  daily  life.  It  is  the 
old  principle  indeed  ;  but  then  the  old  principle  of 
trustfulness  in  man  is  heightened  and  intensified 
and  sanctified  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  redirected 
also  and  applied  henceforth  to  Him  who,  though 
now  the  Christian  "  sees  Him  not,  yet  in  whom 
believing  he  rejoices  with  joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory." 

And,  lastly,  I  endeavoured  to  show  that  the 
sanctification,  the  improvement  of  the  moral 
character,  the  building  up  of  the  man  within  the 
heart,  in  the  main  through  the  agency  of  medita- 
tion and  prayer,  is  a  divine  appointment,  all  of 
a  piece  and  in  continuity  with  that  other  appoint- 


TO  RELIGIOUS  GROWTH  59 

ment,  equally  divine,  whereby  man,  through  an 
innate  principle  of  imitation,  becomes  assimilated 
in  his  moral  character  to  those  who  are  the  objects 
of  his  habitual  association  and  constant  thought. 

Thus  the  Laivs — and  here  lay  the  whole  scope 
and  tenor  of  the  discourse — thus  the  Laws  after 
which  we  see  by  experience  God  has  fashioned 
man's  nature  in  relation  to  his  social,  temporal 
life,  are  in  harmony  and  continuity  with  those 
other  laws,  by  the  operation  of  which  Revelation 
declares  it  is  God's  good  pleasure  to  fit  his  now 
sinful  children  for  their  sinless,  eternal  inheritance 
in  the  society  of  the  redeemed. 

The  scope  of  my  remarks  to-day  will,  in  some 
sense,  be  the  supplement,  and  form  the  conclusion, 
of  that  other  discourse.  For  I  shall  endeavour 
to  show  you,  or  to  remind  you,  that  the  processes 
which  in  the  Bible  are  declared  to  accompany  and 
to  promote  the  Christian's  growth  in  grace  and  in 
the  knowledge  of  Christ ;  the  processes,  that  is, 
which  accompany  the  development  of  our  moral 
nature,  are  in  strict  analogy  with  those  which 
we  find  accompany  growth  in  the  knowledge  of 
the  natural  things  around  us.  That  is  to  say,  I 
shall  endeavour  to  show  how  the  education  of  the 
religious  principle  as  proposed  and  provided  for 
in  the  Bible,  is  all  of  a  piece  with  what  experience 
teaches  us  regarding  the  education  of  the  intcllec- 


6o        ANALOGY  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS 

tual  faculties.  In  other  words,  the  processes  by 
which  the  Bible  tells  us  a  man  can  alone  become 
morally  good,  are  pretty  much  the  same  as  those 
by  which,  when  applied  to  another  part  of  his 
nature,  he  becomes  intellectually  great.  Both 
combined,  render  him  in  the  language  of  the 
noblest  of  our  poets, 

"  Dear  to  God,  and  famous  to  all  ages." 

Now  I  cannot  but  think  that  the  false  and 
fatal  prejudice,  which,  like  the  poisoned  robe  of 
Nessus,  still  clings  to  the  minds  of  some  good 
men,  viz.,  the  suspicion  that  growth  in  human 
knowledge  is  unfriendly  to  the  Christian's  growth 
in  grace  and  in  the  knowlege  of  Christ, — I  say 
this  suspicion  may  be  corrected  or  removed  by 
the  consideration  of  such  analogies  as  these.  For 
the  existence  of  such  analogies  is  sufficient  to 
show  that  the  means  by  which  natural  knowledge 
is  to  be  acquired,  have  been  as  much  the  object 
of  the  Divine  Pre-arrangement,  as  have  been  the 
means  provided  for  our  moral  advancement.  To 
secure  to  man  as  much  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
divine  nature  and  of  the  divine  will,  as  his 
capacities  admit,  it  has  pleased  God  to  give  a 
Revelation  contained  in  the  pages  of  a  Book. 
To  secure  to  man  the  knowledge  of  material 
things,  Chrysostom  said  long  ago,  with  a  prophetic 


TO  RELIGIOUS  GROWTH  6i 

sagacity,  "God  has  given  the  Universe  in  tJie 
place  of  a  Book!'  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Christian 
to  read  and  to  reverence  each.  In  a  Hke 
spirit,  Pascal  spoke  as  a  true  philosopher  when 
he  said,  "  Nature  after  all  is  only  another  form  of 
Grace."  It  is  the  wisdom  of  the  natural  philo- 
sopher neither  to  ignore  nor  neglect  the  analogy. 

Thoughts  of  this  kind  at  the  present  day  can 
scarcely  be  out  of  place  before  any  congregation 
of  educated    Christians,  but  they  seem  to  me  to 
be   unavoidably   suggested  by  the   circumstances 
under  which  we  meet.      For  in  the  assemblage  of 
educated    men   who    now   throng   your   city,   you 
will   find   those  who   represent  the  fairest  and  the 
noblest  forms  of  human  genius.      Some  you  will 
find  who,  by  penetrating  intellect,  have  taught  us 
how  all  the  glittering  hosts  of  the  starry  canopy 
are  linked  in  a  bond  of  material  brotherhood  with 
one  little  globe  which  they  encircle.      These  men 
have    constrained    the   sun    himself  to    solve    the 
enigma  of  his  mysterious  fires   by  which  from  the 
beginning  he  has  been  ordained  of  God  to  arrange 
and  uphold  all  terrestrial   things.      And  at  length 
with    patient    importunity    the    same    men    have 
compelled  the  moon   to  reveal   the  secrets  of  her 
devious  course. 

Others  of   them   have    delved    into   the    solid 
earth,  and  there  they  have  learned  the  wondrous 


62        ANALOGY  OF  IN  TELL  E  C  TUA  L  PRO  GRESS 

story  how,  age  after  age,  and  through  myriads  of 
ages,  that  earth  has  been  clothed  by  a  loving 
Creator  in  orderliness  and  beauty,^  the  creatures 
of  His  bountiful  hands  "  taking  their  pastime 
therein,"  and  disporting  themselves  each  after 
the  joy  of  his  kind  :  and  when  successive  genera- 
tions of  this  lavish  beauty  and  this  joy  of  life 
have  passed  away,  when  these  all  have  done  their 
appointed  office,  and  all  is  thereby  prepared,  then 
there  came  forth  the  fiat  of  God  :  "  Let  us  make 
man  in  our  own  image,"  and  "in  the  image  of 
God  created  He  him." 

Others  of  these  gifted  men  consume  the  silent 
hours,  probing  the  depths  of  thought,  and  search- 
ing how  to  number,  or  to  measure,  or  to  weigh, 
or  to  compute  the  interactions  of  all  things  in- 
organic, from  an  atom  to  a  sun. 

And  lastly,  others  among  them,  by  an  intuition 
incommunicable,  seize  upon  the  products  and 
evolutions  of  the  thoughts  of  other  men,  and  by 
a  strange  alchemy,  re-combine  them  in  the  arts 
and  practical  appliances  of  life.  It  is  these  men 
who  have  taught  us  how  to  baffle  the  winds,  and 
the  waves,  and  the  tides,  and  have  associated  the 
remotest  families  of  the  earth  by  the  winged 
message  of  a  moment.     Surely  these  are  thoughts, 

1  See  the  Duke  of  Argyll's  Reign  of  Law,  p. 
A  delightful  book,  replete  with  Christian  philosophy. 


I 


70  RELIGIOUS  GROWTH  63 

my  brethren,  not  unbecoming  to  the  Christian 
pulpit.  For  these  men  have  been  ordained  of 
God  to  be,  in  their  day,  the  intellectual  seers,  and 
prophets,^  and  priests,  and  interpreters,  of  the 
wonderful  works  of  His  hands.  I  say,  moreover, 
that  it  is  by  such  achievements  of  thought,  that 
the  aspirations  and  pursuits  of  thousands  of  other 
men,  less  gifted  than  themselves,  are  raised  above 
the  blinding  dust  and  the  poisonous  mists  which 
beset  the  earth,  and  are  carried  away  from  the 
whirl  of  the  mill,  from  the  clang  of  the  hammer, 
from  the  busy,  anxious  murmur  of  the  Exchange, 
to  the  contemplation  of  the  handiwork  and  the 
glory  of  Him,  in  whom  we  live  and  move  and 
have  our  being. 

But  then  the  Christian  philosopher  knows  full 
well,  and  the  Christian  minister  must  never  forget 
to  impress  it  upon  his  flock,  that  man  cannot  live 
in  the  light  and  by  the  force  of  the  intellect  alone. 
Within  the  human  heart  there  broods  an  ever- 
busy  array  of  appetites,  passions,  and  affections  ;  - 
and  upon  these  the  Bible  declares,  and  experience 
confirms  the  declaration,  that  there  is  impressed 
by  nature  and  inheritance,  a  wrong  and   a  very 

1  St.  Paul  expresses  the  same  thought  when  he  says,  *'  And 
He  Himself  (Christ)  gave  some,  Apostles  :  and  some,  Prophets, 
.    .   .   for  the  work  of  the  ministry. " — Ephes.  iv.   ii. 

2  See  Bishop  Butler's  Sermons  on  Hzimaii  Nature,  ii.  iii. 


64        ANALOGY  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS 

sinful  bias  :  Conscience,  indeed,  sits  among  these 
appetites,  passions,  and  affections,  as  a  judge  upon 
his  throne,  and,  bidden  or  unbidden,  pronounces, 
as  with  the  voice  of  God,  his  ceaseless  verdicts  ; 
but  conscience  has  lost  his  power  to  enforce  his 
authority.  The  words  of  St.  Paul  here  find  an 
echo  from  every  man's  heart :  "  The  good  that  I 
would,  that  I  do  not,  and  the  evil  that  I  would 
not,  that  I  do."  Who  of  us  has  not  felt  it  a 
thousand  times  ?  for  I  speak  of  what  we  know  and 
feel  within.  Who,  then,  or  what  shall  rectify 
this  evil  bias  ?  what  shall  sanctify  the  aims  and 
objects  of  these  emotions  of  the  soul  ?  Who  or 
what  shall  restore  to  conscience  the  kingly 
authority  which  is  his  right  ?  It  is  not  in  man, 
nor  in  man's  philosophy ;  that  has  been  tried 
beyond  2000  years,  from  Plato  of  ancient  times 
to  Comte  of  this  present  day  ;  it  has  been  weighed 
in  the  balance  and  found  wanting.  The  intellect 
may  be  able,  with  great  eloquence,  to  assert  the 
rigJit,  but  is  utterly  powerless  to  restore  the  might, 
of  conscience. 

Now  that  which  the  powers  of  intellect  and 
philosophy  have  failed  to  do,  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
Jesus  undertakes  to  effect  :  it  promises  to  sanctify 
the  heart  of  him,  who  in  his  heart  accepts  the 
message  ;  it  proposes  to  give  power  as  well  as 
right   to  the   conscience,  and   to  set  the   man  at 


TO  RELIGIOUS  GROWTH  65 

peace  with  God  and  with  himself.  Physical 
knowledge  has  made  many  of  the  men  among 
us  useful  and  great  ;  it  is  the  power  of  God,  as 
revealed  in  the  Gospel  of  His  Son,  which  alone 
can  make  all  of  us  happy  and  good. 

It  is  here  that  the  analogy  I  spoke  of  comes 
in  ;  the  analogy,  that  is,  between  the  processes 
whereby  a  man  becomes  intellectually  great,  and 
those  processes  whereby  he  becomes  morally 
good  ;  of  course  I  use  the  terms  good  and  great 
in  a  sense  that  is  relative,  and  consistently  with 
that  lowliness  and  consciousness  of  imperfection 
which  become  alike  the  philosopher  and  the 
Christian.  The  life  of  each  of  them,  moral  or 
intellectual,  is  a  progress  and  a  growth  ;  each 
proceeds  step  by  step,  and  every  step  is  an 
illustration  of  the  text,  "To  him  that  hath  shall 
be  given  :"  assuredly  this  is  the  law  of  the  king- 
dom of  mind,  and  on  two  separate  occasions  it 
was  proclaimed  by  its  Divine  Founder  as  the  law 
also  of  the  Kingdom  of  Grace. 

For  mark  the  commencement  of  the  life  of 
each  ;  compare,  that  is,  the  first  conscious  intro- 
duction of  the  man  into  the  kingdom  of  grace  with 
the  first  introduction  of  the  scholar  into  the  fields 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  physical  creation.  In  the 
Holy  Scriptures  the  man  is  said,  in  most  expressive 
language,  to  be  "  born  again  " ;  the  old  man  is  said 

F 


66        ANALOGY  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS 

to  be  put  off,  the  new  man  is  put  on  ;  he  who  enters 
the  kingdom  must  first  become  as  a  Httle  child. 

Think,  then,  of  the  young  child  when  his  con- 
sciousness first  fully  dawns  upon  him  :  mark  his 
intense  curiosity  ;  how  he  must  needs  taste,  and 
touch,  and  handle  all  things  ;  observe  his  ceaseless 
activity,  and  the  joyousness  which  sometimes 
seems  to  overspread  his  very  existence  ;^  look  at 
his  first  ineffectual  attempts  to  run  or  to  walk  ; 
note  the  errors  of  judgment  into  which  he  falls  as 
to  the  dimensions  and  the  distances  of  things  ; 
observe  the  wonder  and  the  trustfulness  with 
which  he  listens  to  those  whom  he  loves,  and  his 
early  docility  towards  those  whom  he  trusts. 

And  now,  having  traced  this  picture  in  your 
minds,  let  me  ask  you,  have  I  been  in  reality 
describing  the  feelings  and  early  progress  of  the 
Christian  when  he  first  realises  the  conviction  that 
he  is  a  redeemed  child  of  God  ;  or  have  I  been 
portraying  the  earlier  days  of  a  man's  pupilage  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  works  of  the  Divine  Creator  ? 
If  heart  answers  to  heart,  I  am  quite  sure  that 
many  a  Christian  man,  and  many  a  Christian 
woman,  who  listens  to  these  words,  can  recall  to 
memory  a  childhood  in  grace — a  first  conscious 
entrance  into  a  filial  relationship  to  God  the 
Father,  through  the  pardon  and  acceptance  which 

1  See  Wordsworth's  Ode  to  IinniOTtalitv. 


TO  RELIGIOUS  GROWTH  67 

come  through  Christ  Jesus  ;  the  very  elements 
of  which  consisted  of  a  chilcUike  activity,  and 
curiosity,  and  joyousness,  and  wonder,  and  trust- 
fulness, and  love  ;  and  least  of  all  were  wanting, 
the  errors  of  incipient  Christian  judgment."  ^ 

The  same  language  also  applies  equally  well 
to  the  true  scholar  on  his  first  introduction  to  the 
School  of  Science  ;  there  is  the  same  intense) 
curiosity,  and  activity,  and  joyousness.^ 

There  is  the  same  type  of  childhood's  un- 
bounded hope  and  inevitable  error. 

1  I  am  not  here  intentionally  touching  on  the  ground  of  theo- 
logical controversy.  Few  men  will  associate  the  name  of  Paley 
with  enthusiasm  or  with  exaggeration  ;  yet  Paley,  in  speaking  of 
religious  conversion,  says  :  "  It  (conversion)  is  too  momentous  an 
event  ever  to  be  forgot.  A  man  might  as  easily  forget  his  escape 
from  a  shipwreck." — Sermon  vii. 

2  I  can  well  remember  to  this  hour,  now  after  the  lapse  of 
beyond  fifty  years, — and  what  student  of  Nature  is  there  who  has 
not  enjoyed  a  similar  experience,  each  in  his  own  line? — I  can 
well  remember,  I  say,  the  sensations  of  delight  felt  when  for  the 
first  time  I  saw,  through  the  new  achromatic  microscope  of  that 
day,  the  dust  of  the-  coal  ashes  under  the  fire-grate,  revealing  the 
coniferous  markings  of  the  pine  trees  of  the  primeval  forests,  the 
parents  of  that  coal.  And  then  there  came  Kirchoffs  explanation 
of  the  dark  lines  in  the  Solar  Spectrum  ;  and  Faraday's  doctrine 
of  Electrical  Induction  ;  and  Joules's  discoveiy  of  the  conversion  of 
motion  into  heat ;  and  Darwin's  marvellous  revelations  of  the 
relations  of  insects  to  the  construction  of  floral  organs,  as  given  in 
his  monographs  on  the  Primulacece  and  the  Lythrums,  and  in  his 
Fertilisation  of  Orchids.  And  then  came  the  disclosure  of  the  material 
fabrics  of  the  stars  and  of  the  sun's  atmosphere  through  the  spectro- 
scope ;  and  more  recently  still  Mr.  Roberts's  wonderful  photograph 
of  the  Nebula  in  Andromeda,  so  full  of  the  seeds  of  speculation. 


68        AJVALOGV  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS 

Truth,  however,  here  leads  me  to   notice  for  a 
moment   an   apparent   exception   to  this   analogy. 
For  there  are  some  highly-favoured  Christians,  the 
language  of  whose  spirits,  by  the  force,  it  may  be, 
of  holy  example   and   early  education,  from   their 
childhood  has  been  that  of  Samuel,  "  Speak,  Lord, 
for   thy  servant    heareth."      Like    Timothy,   some 
Lois  or  Eunice  instilled  into  their  dawning  minds 
the  knowledge    and    the    love  of  God.      In    such 
instances,    perhaps   as   rare   as   they   are   certainly 
blessed,  there  is  no  recollection  of  the  first  fervour 
of  a  new  affection,  but   there    remain    the    quiet 
habits  of  a  pious  life,  which,  though   in   truth  the 
work  of  the   Divine  Spirit,  have   seemed   to  them 
to  be  a  portion  of  their  nature.      But  even   here 
the  exception  to  the  analogy  is  rather  apparent 
than  real  ;   for  there  are  like  instances  where  from 
favourable  circumstances  the  young  child  has  been 
introduced  to  the  knowledge  of  the  natural  world 
about  him  almost  with  the  dawn  of  his  conscious- 
ness ;    and    the    growth    of    this    love    of    natural 
knowledge  has   thus  become,  to  Jihnsclf  at   least, 
unobserved  and  inevitable. 

But  then  this  fervour  of  the  new  affection  in 
due  time  subsides  ;  its  purpose  was  to  animate 
the  Christian  with  courage  to  combat  with  the 
early  difficulties  which  he  soon  has  to  encounter, 
before   experience  has   provided   him  with  all   the 


TO  RELIGIOUS  GROWTH  69 

weapons  of  his  warfare,  and  has  fully  convinced 
him  that  the  victory  must  be  his.  If  the  feeling 
continued  in  its  first  intensity,  it  would  soon 
become  a  weakness,  rather  than  a  strength,  for 
the  Christian  might  then  be  lost  in  the  pleasurable 
contemplation  of  his  own  emotions. 

The  earliest  discipline  through  which  the 
Christian  is  carried,  in  general,  is  the  discipline  of 
Patience,  for  his  progress  in  the  new,  the  divine 
life  before  him  he  soon  finds  is  far  slower  than 
he,  in  his  first  raptures,  expected  ;  and  many 
are  the  temptations,  the  seductions  which  assail 
him,  and,  in  general,  many  also  are  the  moral  falls 
from  that  pattern  of  perfect  holiness  which  in  the 
Gospel  is  set  for  his  imitation.  It  is  not  long, 
also,  before  he  feels  the  painful  isolation  from 
many  of  his  old  friends,  who  cannot  understand 
what  it  is  which  so  strangely  absorbs  him,  and 
who  would  fain  persuade  him  that  his  new  life  is 
unreasonable  and  profitless.  It  is  now,  indeed, 
that  his  first  and  his  chief  trials  have  commenced  ; 
but  if  he  obediently  follow  the  Divine  Hand  which 
both  points  the  way  and  confers  the  strength, 
then  patience  will  have  her  perfect  work  ;  and 
patience  worketh  experience,  and  experience  hope ; 
and  it  is  by  hope,  which  is  only  another  form  of 
faith  ;  it  is  by  hope  that  the  Christian  is  anchored 
to  the  Rock. 


70        AA^ALOGV  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PROGI^ESS 

Now,  I  say  that  very  few  of  the  words  which 
thus  rapidly  describe  the  progress  of  the  Christian 
in  this  second  stage  of  the  development  of  his 
moral  being  need  be  changed  to  describe  the 
progress  of  the  true  scholar,  when  he  has  made 
his  first  advance  in  the  school  of  natural  know- 
ledge. He  finds  the  same  need  of  the  discipline  of 
patience,  the  same  slowness  of  progress  ;  he  falls 
into  similar  errors,  from  whence  he  must  painfully 
and  manfully  emerge  ;  he  not  seldom  excites  the 
same  pity  for  his  new  infatuation,  in  those  who 
call  themselves  his  friends.  In  him  also  patience 
must  have  her  perfect  work,  otherwise  to  him 
there  will  come  no  experience,  and  his  hope  will 
then  make  him  ashamed. 

So  the  life  of  the  true  student  in  the  kingdom 
of  nature  is  thus  far  in  analogy  and  correlation 
with  the  life  of  the  true  disciple  in  the  kingdom 
of  grace  :  each  is  a  progress  and  a  growth  ;  each 
step  therein  is  a  necessary  preparation  for  the 
next;  and  in  each  is  abundantly  verified  that 
cardinal  law,  written  alike  on  the  pages  of  nature 
and  of  grace, — "To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given." 

You  will  observe  that  I  have  been  speaking  of 
the  true,  the  sincere  disciples  alone,  whether  in  the 
School  of  Grace  or  in  the  School  of  Nature.  For 
as  there  are  many  who,  having  received  the  seed 
of  the  divine   life,  allow   it   to   be   choked'  by  the 


TO  RELIGIOUS  GROWTH  71 

cares  of  this  world  and  the  deccitfulness  of  riches  ; 
or,  being  led  away  by  the  lust  of  the  eye,  or  the 
lust  of  the  flesh,  or  the  pride  of  life,  bring  no  fruit 
to  perfection  ;  so  there  are  many  who  linger 
merely  on  the  threshold  of  the  School  of  Know- 
ledge ;  pleased  or  amused,  now  and  then,  with 
the  sound  of  the  glories  that  are  discussed  within 
its  halls,  but  unwilling  to  submit  to  that  discipline 
without  which  progress  is  impossible.  Such 
persons  can  rarely  understand  the  burning  of  the 
early  fervour  of  which  I  spoke  as  the  type  of  the 
first  stage  of  the  Christian  life,  and  can  form  but 
little  notion  of  that  discipline  of  patience  which 
leads  through  experience  to  the  assurance  of  hope, 
which  is  the  type  of  the  second. 

But  now  come  we  to  those  gifted  favoured 
souls,  who  reach  the  third  and  the  maturer  stage 
of  the  Christian  life  on  the  one  hand,  or  the 
higher  development  of  the  intellect  on  the  other. 
In  either  case  the  precious  gift  comes  alike  from 
God  ;  even  from  that  Divine  Spirit  which  divideth 
unto  every  man  severally  as  He  wills. 

In  the  confirmed  Christian,  his  aims  after  as- 
similation to  the  divine  pattern  of  Christ  his 
Saviour,  his  instantaneous  reference  of  his  hopes, 
his  projects,  his  cares,  to  the  will  of  God,  have 
now  become  not  so  much  the  effects  of  a  conscious 
effort,  as  a  habit.      His  life  has  become  a  prayer 


72        ANALOGY  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PIWGKESS 

and  a  thanksgiving  ;   obedience  to   Him    is    now 
almost  an  intuition  :   in  his  glad  heart, — 

"  Love  is  an  unerring  light ; 
He  does  God's  will  and  knows  it  not." 

I  know  that  these  attainments  in  the  Christian 
life  are  rare,  but  then  they  are  actual  ;  for  their 
possession  by  this  regenerate  heart  it  was,  that 
Christ  died,  that  Evangelists  wrote,  and  that 
Apostles  preached  :  for  the  birth,  and  sustenance, 
and  erowth  of  this  sanctification,  the  Church  of 
Christ  exists  in  visible  form,  with  its  holy  sacra- 
ments and  its  ordinances  of  grace  :  nay,  for  further- 
ance of  our  own  nurture  in  these  graces  of  the 
Spirit,  are  we  not  here  met  to-day  ? 

True,  I  cannot  take  so  lofty  a  flight  in  the  case 
of  the  higher  and  more  perfected  form  of  the 
human  intellect  ;  for  intellect  comes  not  so  nigh 
to  the  throne  of  God  as  love.  Nevertheless,  the 
true  philosopher  has  his  great  intuitions  also. 
He,  too,  sees  the  things  around,  not  with  the  eyes 
of  uncultured  ordinary  men,  but  in  all  created 
things  around  him  he  discerns  order  and  law, 
fitnesses  and  adaptations,  benignity  and  power. 
The  ears  of  his  spirit  drink  in  the  harmonies  ot 
nature.  That  which  in  the  advanced  Christian, 
partakes  of  the  nature  of  inspiration,  in  the  philo- 
sopher becomes  discovery.  There  are,  moreover, 
many  qualities  of  the  mind  common  to  them  both; 


I 


I 


TO  RELIGIOUS  GROWTH  73 

candour,  for  instance,  and  the  love  of  the  truth  ; 
but  beyond  all  there  is  the  grace  of  a  childlike 
humility  ;  for  each  of  them  knows  by  what  slow 
and  painful  steps  he  has  arrived,  the  one  at  the 
knowledge  of  God  and  of  his  own  heart  ;  the 
other,  at  a  perception  of  the  orderly  adaptations 
of  nature  and  the  relation  of  things  created.  Each 
knows  that  his  powers  have  been  to  him,  from 
first  to  last,  a  gift}  and  that  being  gifts,  they 
carry  with  them  responsibilities.  Each  feels  in 
the  depths  of  his  spirit  that  he  has  not  yet  attained 
to  his  aspirations  and  his  hopes,  and  he  knows 
that  immeasurably  more  lies  before  him  than 
behind  him.  As  a  little  child  and  as  a  learner, 
each  entered  upon  his  new  life  ;  as  a  child  and  as 
a  learner  still,  each  knows  that  here  he  must 
quit  it. 

In  thus  rapidly  tracing  some  few  of  the  ana- 
logies between  the  true  life  spiritual  and  the  life 
intellectual,  it  seems  as  if  we  had  all  along  been 
speaking  of  two  separate  beings,  but  in  truth  we 
have  been  speaking  of  two  phases  of  the  life  of 
one  and  the  same  man  ;  for  each  one  of  us  is 
endowed  with  affections  and  with  a  mind  ;  to  each 
of  us  God  has  given  a  loving  and  a  thinking]^ 
power;  though  possibly  these  two  powers  are, 
after  all,  only  different  sides  of  the    same   thing. 

^   "  'Autos  idwKev."     See  the  note  on  page  63. 


74        ANALOGY  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS 

There  cannot  then  be  any  true,  any  necessary 
antagonism  between  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  and 
the  love  of  God.  And  mark  you,  on  whichever 
side  that  antagonism  is  permitted  to  exist,  and 
fully  up  to  the  measure  of  its  existence,  that 
antagonism  is  artificial,  and  a  sure  sign,  not  of  the 
strength,  but  of  the  essential  weakness,  of  the  love. 
For  that  love  of  God  must  be  weak  indeed  which 
shuns,  and  is  afraid  of,  the  contemplation  of  God's 
works  ;  and  that  pursuit  of  knowledge  must  be 
languid  and  unworthy  of  the  name,  which  shuns 
and  is  afraid  of,  the  knowledge  of  Him  who 
created  all  that  can  be  known.  In  this  shines 
forth  the  Divine  philosophy  of  that  Holy  Book, 
where  it  is  written,  "There  is  no  fear  in  love:" 
"  Perfect  love  casteth  out  fear." 

But  now,  for  one  brief  moment,  let  us  imagine 
the  graces  of  the  Christian  faith  to  be  superadded 
by  the  gift  of  God  to  the  graces  of  natural  know- 
ledge. Then  all  created  things  assume  to  the 
eyes  of  that  man's  affections  a  new  and  a  holier 
aspect.  In  the  plan  and  in  the  laws  which  bind 
all  material  things  together,  his  soul  with  joy 
recognises  the  wisdom  of  Him  who  framed  the 
plan  and  prescribed  the  law.  In  the  varied 
contrivances  with  which  all  nature  teems,  his 
understanding  traces  with  a  reverential  love  the 
mind  of  the  Divine  Contriver.     In  the  beauty  and 


TO  RELIGIOUS  GROWTH  75 

the  joy  with  which  all  animated  things  are  re- 
dolent, he  reads  the  tenderness  and  the  fatherly 
character  of  the  Creator,— "  the  very  least  as 
feeling  His  care,  and  the  greatest  as  not  exempt 
from  His  power." 

And  if,  in  his  brother  man,  he  is  compelled 
sometimes  to  acknowledge  traces  of  an  unholy, 
unloving  spirit,  then  the  Christian  philosopher 
thinks  not  only  of  his  own  infirmities,  and  of  that 
Divine  grace  by  which  they  are  subdued,  but  he 
looks  through  beyond  the  unholy  and  unloving 
man,  at  the  man  as  the  man  may  be,  and  as 
he  hopes  will  be:  he  sees  the  man  redeemed; 
the  Christ  within  the  man  ;  he  forgets  the  sinner, 
and  his  spirit  is  at  peace. 

Do  you  hesitate,  and  ask  me  for  examples  of 
this  happy  combination  of  intellectual  strength 
with  the  Christian  spirit  ?  I  will  select  then  at 
once  the  brightest  names  in  the  annals  of  human 
knowledge. 

In  the  spirit  of  this  Law,  Kepler  wrote; 
Kepler,  the  first  and  the  greatest  among  the 
pioneers  of  modern  science.  Not  a  few  of  Kepler's 
writings  are  a  prayer. 

In  the  spirit  of  this  Law,  Pascal,  endowed  of 
God  with  a  genius  second  to  that  of  no  child  of 
man,  bequeathed  for  an  everlasting  possession  to 
the  Church  of  Christ,  "  THOUGHTS  "  which  burn. 


76        ANALOGY  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS 

In  the  spirit  of  this  Law,  Newton  year  by  year 
devoted  a  sum  of  money  for  the  purchase  and 
distribution  of  copies  of  the  Bible. 

In  the  spirit  of  this  Law,  Leibnitz,  that  great 
and  subtle  geometer,  with  a  zeal  and  a  learning 
unsurpassed,  devoted  the  prime  of  his  life  to  the 
assuaging  of  the  fatal  animosities  between  the 
Lutherans  and  the  Romanists  of  his  day,  saying 
to  each  of  them,  "  Sirs,  ye  be  brethren,  be  at  one." 

Nay,  did  the  time  and  propriety  permit,  I 
could  remind  you  of  the  names  of  a  host  of  living 
Christian  Philosophers,  whose  writings  would  refute 
the  weak  fond  calumny  that  the  religion  of  the 
Cross  of  Christ  has  become  among  them  as  a  fable 
of  the  past,  and  obsolete. 

One  great  name,  however,  still  remains,  and  with 
it  I  conclude.  It  was  among  the  names  of  living 
men  when  I  first  was  requested  to  prepare  this 
address  to  you,  it  is  now  the  name  of  one  living 
among  the  blessed.  It  is  but  little  for  me  to 
remind  you  that  a  greater  philosopher  than 
Michael  Faraday  ^  has  rarely  been  known 
among  us  within  the  memory  of  recent  times  ; 
but  I  am  bold  to  add  that  never  have  we  known 
a  man  who  more  perfectly  exhibited  the  meek- 
ness, the  peaceableness,  the  humility,  the  blame- 
lessness    of  the    true    child    of   God.      I    am    not 

^  Faraday  died  on  vSunday,  August  25th,  1867. 


TO  RELIGIOUS  GROWTH  77 

consciously  exaggerating  when  I  say  there  went 
forth  a  virtue  from  that  Christian  man,  which 
made  those  who  had  come  from  his  presence  feel 
happier,  and,  I  may  venture  to  say,  even  better  men. 
Think  not  I  am  thus  striving  to  laud  the  creature. 
I  am  rather  acknowledging  the  Creator  by  whose 
divine  spirit  our  Faraday  was  made  what  he  was. 
Yet  this  great  and  good  man  never  obtruded 
the  strength  of  his  faith  upon  those  whom  he 
publicly  addressed  ;  upon  principle  he  was  habitu- 
ally reticent  on  such  topics,  because  he  believed 
they  were  ill  suited  for  the  ordinary  assemblages 
of  men.  Yet  on  more  than  one  occasion,  when  he 
had  been  discoursing  on  some  of  the  magnificent 
prearrangements  of  Divine  Providence,  so  lavishly 
scattered  in  nature,  I  have  seen  him  struggle  to 
repress  the  emotion  which  was  visibly  striving  for 
utterance  ;  and  then  at  last,  with  one  single  far- 
reaching  word,  he  would  just  hint  at  his  meaning 
rather  than  express  it.  On  such  occasions  he 
only  who  had  ears  to  hear,  could  hear. 

Yet  with  all  this  gentleness  and  tenderness  of 
nature,  Faraday  was  a  man  of  resolute  decision  ; 
for  his  gentleness  was  not  so  much  constitutional 
to  the  man,  as  it  was  the  result  of  religious 
conviction. 

For  my  own  part,  I  know  little  that  is  more 
touchin^T  than   one  habit  of  this   great  and   good 


78        ANALOGY  OF  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS 

man's  life.  During  the  week,  or  a  part  of  it,  his 
thoughts,  as  you  know,  would  be  occupied  in  those 
deep  investigations  of  nature  which  will  make  his 
name  honoured  wherever  the  annals  of  science  are 
read  :  but  when  the  week's  work  was  done,  and 
often  when  the  day's  work  was  done,  he  would 
quietly  retire  among  a  few  plain,  and  for  the  most 
part  poor  Christian  people,  whose  aim  is  to  live 
after  what  they  conceive  to  be  the  model  of  the 
primitive  Apostolic  church  ;  and  there,  I  am  told, 
he  would  open  the  Bible  and  expound  the  Scrip- 
tures with  a  benign  tenderness,  and  childlike 
simplicity,  and  depth  of  personal  experience,  which 
would  have  astonished,  had  it  not  so  gravely 
impressed,  his  hearers.  Strange  to  say,  some  of 
the  last  of  these  loving  expositions  of  God's  Holy 
Word  were  ministered  in  this  very  town  less  than 
four  years  ago.^ 

1  There  are  one  or  two  circumstances  connected  with  this  great 
and  good  man's  later  days  which  seem  to  me  to  be  well  worthy  of 
a  record.  I  was  told  that  on  the  last  occasion  of  his  visit  to  his 
little  flock  of  Christians  in  Dundee,  on  opening  the  Bible  to  give 
the  usual  exposition,  he  asked  his  audience  to  pardon  him  if  in  his 
quotations  of  the  Scriptures  he  was  inexact  in  his  words.  "  You 
remember  it  was  not  always  so,"  he  said  ;  and  my  informant,  a 
Deacon  in  the  little  (Sandemanian)  Church,  added  :  "  And  his 
face  shone  as  the  face  of  an  angel." 

The  seeds  of  his  approaching  death  were  already  sown. 

Again.  In  the  course  of  a  railway  journey,  accompanied  by  a 
well-known  friend,  the  latter  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  to 
ask  him  what  opinions  he  really  entertained  respecting  a  future 


TO  RELIGIOUS  GROWril  79 

For  Michael  Faraday  it  were  incongruous 
to  erect  a  statue  of  marble,  or  of  bronze.  His 
fame  is  in  his  work.  Do  you,  who  listen,  thank 
God  who  giveth  such  grace  to  man.  Let  us  who 
survive  him,  and  who  knew  him,  let  us  strive  by 
our  example  to  hand  down  the  image  of  his  char- 
acter to  the  generation  that  succeeds  us.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  that  in  him  was  exhibited  the  truth  of 
that  Divine  Philosophy  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ, 
where  it  is  written  : 

"  Blessed  are  the  meek  :    for  they  shall  inherit 
THE  Earth. 
Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart  :  for  they  shall 
SEE  God." 

life.  Faraday,  with  that  well -remembered  gesture  of  the  folded 
hands  which,  when  greatly  interested,  he  assumed,  replied  :  "  Eye 
hath  not  seen,  nor  hath  the  ear  heard,  nor  hath  it  entered  into  the 
mind  of  man  to  conceive,  the  things  that  God  hath  prepared." 


I 


Ill 

THE   TESTIMONY    OF    SCIENCE   TO 

THE     CONTINUITY     OF    THE     DIVINE 

THOUGHT    FOR    MAN 


A  Discourse  delivered  by  Request  at  the  Meeting  of  the  British 
Association  at  Exeter  in  1869 


PREFACE 

It  was  not  without  great  hesitation  that  I  accepted 
an  invitation  from  the  proper  authorities  once 
more  to  preach  before  many  of  my  colleagues  in 
Science  and  Theology,  at  a  meeting  of  the  British 
Association.  Indeed,  I  should  have  ultimately  de- 
clined this  difficult  and  responsible  office,  had  it 
not  so  happened  that  the  address  of  the  eminent 
philosopher  ^  who  presided  over  that  learned  body 
was  directed  chiefly  to  a  branch  of  knowledge 
with  which  it  had  been  my  official  duty  to  be- 
come sufficiently  acquainted.  I  availed  myself, 
therefore,  of  this  opportunity  to  show  that  the 
very  recent  and  truly  wonderful  revelations  of 
Spectrum  Analysis,  which  formed  a  main  current 
of  thought  at  the  Exeter  meeting,  contained, 
when  properly  interpreted,  the  most  ancient 
prophecy  of  the  Divine  Mindfulness  for  Man. 
In  support  of  this  view,  and  throughout  the 
1  Dr.  Huggins,  F.R.S. 


84       TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

greater    portion   of  this   address   from   the   pulpit, 
I  have  assumed  the  truth  of  some  Nebular  Hypo- 
thesis  for    the    formation    of   our    Solar    System. 
I    have    done    so,  because    (i)    There    is    an    un- 
questionable community  of  elementary  materials 
forming,  alike  and  in  the   main,  the  photospheric 
atmospheres    of  our   Sun,   and    the  strata   of  our 
Earth  ;     (2)     Many     of    the     Nebulae     certainly 
contain  some,  and  may  possibly  contain  all,  of  these 
elements  ;    (3)   The    two    Herschels    have    shown 
that  celestial  nebulous   masses  are   observed  in  all 
stages  of  condensation,  from  mere  vaporous  whiffs 
to  the  half-consolidated   forms  of  nebulous  stars  ; 
and,  lastly.  Because   Laplace  and   others  have  de- 
monstrated  the  high  probability  that  such  masses 
of    vapour    might,    consistently   with   the    known 
laws  impressed  upon  natural  substances,  ultimately 
form  solid  bodies  similar  in   all   essential   respects 
to  those  of  the  Sun  and  its  attendant  planets. 

These  things  being  so,  that  is  to  say,  being  at 
least  an  approximately  true  representation  of  the 
fact,  we  next  observe  that  coal  and  building 
materials,  iron  and  the  other  metals,  which  in 
the  remote  ages  of  the  past  existed  in  a  state  of 
nebulous  incandescence,  now  form  the  chief  in- 
struments for  securing  the  civilisation  and  intel- 
lectual advancement  of  mankind.  Here  then  we 
have  at  least  three  distinct   and   independent  sets 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  85 

of  elements  or  factors.  First,  we  observe  an 
abundant  supply  of  the  materials  in  course  of 
preparation  throughout  ages  inconceivably  remote  ; 
(2)  There  is  the  present  capacity  of  a  race  of 
intelligent  beings  to  use  these  materials  ;  (3) 
An  unquestionable  result  of  their  application, 
and  of  the  mental  efforts  necessary  to  make  that 
application,  has  been  to  advance  that  race  of 
beings  in  the  scale  of  created  existences,  with  the 
prospect  of  a  vast  and  still  further  advancement. 
Now,  put  these  independent  elements  or  con- 
currences together,  and  there  arises  a  probability 
of  infinity  against  nothing,  that  their  co-existence 
is  not  the  result  of  chance.  Grant  further,  what 
the  greatest  of  ancient  and  modern  philosophers 
have  accepted  as  inevitable  ;  grant  the  existence 
in  nature  of  an  all-pervading  and  powerful  Will, 
and  you  have,  as  worked  out  by  Spectrum 
Analysis,  a  testimony  to  the  mindfulness  of  that 
Divine  Will  for  man,  pre-existing  throughout  the 
inconceivably  remote  ages  of  the  past.  This  is 
the  testimony  of  Science  ;  and,  be  it  observed,  the 
testimony  of  Science  in  its  most  recent,  most 
unexpected,  and  most  wonderful  development. 

In  the  Hulsean  Lectures,  addressed  to  the 
University  of  Cambridge  in  1867,  I  have  pointed 
out  a  similar  prolonged  prophecy  in  the  slow 
deposit     of    those     coalfields     which    in     modern 


86       TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

times    have    played    so    important    a    part   in    the 
development  of  human  genius,  and  in  the  civilisa- 
tion   of    our    species.       I     then    spoke    of    these 
primeval  forests  as  containing,  implicitly,  the  most 
ancient    prophecies   of    the    Divine    goodwill    to 
man.^      It  did  not  then  occur  to  me,  as  it  well 
might  have    done,    that   we    have    a   similar,    but 
immensely    antecedent,  testimony   to   the   Divine 
beneficence  in  those  telescopic  patches  of  nebulous 
light,  which  strew  the  heavens  in  a  certain  peculiar 
and   orderly  arrangement.      The   antiquity  (I  had 
almost  used  the  word   eternity)  of  these  nebulous 
masses    probably    exceeds    the    antiquity    of   the 
primeval   coal  forests  by  at  least  as   much  as  the 
latter  exceed,  in  the  order  of  time,  those  marvellous 
uses  which  they  subserve  for  man   at  the  present 
hour.      I   know  that   such   comparisons  of  remote 
and    protracted    antiquity    are    vain,  they    exceed 
and   evade   our  powers   of  contemplation  ;   never- 
theless we   read   therein  what  we   may  fairly  term 
the    Continuity    of   the    Divine    Mindfulness    for 

Man. 

A  few  notes  have  been  added  to  this  sermon. 
In  one  of  them  I  have  pointed  out,  so  far  as  the 
space  properly  allowable  to  a  publication  of  this 
nature  admits,  what  seems  to  be  a  remarkable 
continuity    of   plan    observable    in    the    prophetic 

1  Hulsean  Lectures  for  1867,  pp.   ii-i5- 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  87 

portions  of  the  Old  Testament.  I  allude  to  the 
secondary  meaning  which  runs  throughout  its  pro- 
phetic and  devotional  utterances.^  This  secondary- 
meaning  extends  from  Genesis,  through  the  Psalms, 
to  Malachi.  Their  applications  to  the  particular 
circumstances  under  which  they  were  uttered  are 
sufficiently  clear  and  distinct ;  and  yet  the 
language  in  which  they  are  couched  generally 
overruns  and  exceeds  the  emergencies  which 
called  them  forth,  and  finds  a  more  ^ntivQ  fulfil- 
ment in  one  remote  series  of  Messianic  events, 
which  occurred  many  centuries  after  their  first 
enunciation.  If  the  truth  of  these  secondary 
fulfilments  is  logically  established,  running,  as  the 
original  utterances  do,  through  so  many  books 
and  so  many  centuries,  then  there  is  evidence  of 
the  continuity  of  a  plan  and  of  a  forethought 
which  cannot  be  less  than  Divine.  An  instance 
of  this  secondary  meaning  occurs  in  connection 
with  the  Psalm  from  which  the  text  of  this  sermon 
is  taken.  For  this  line  of  thought  I  am  indebted 
to  a  private  communication  from  one  of  our  most 
learned  prelates,  Bishop  Ollivant  of  Llandaff. 

In  another  note,^  connected  with  the  existence 

of  the  metallic  elements,  such  as   iron,  etc.,  in  the 

atmospheric  envelopes   of  our   Sun,  if  not  also  in 

the  Nebulae,  I  have  pointed  out,  what  has  probably 

1  Note  A.  ^  Note  B. 


88       TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

escaped  the  notice  of  the  general  reader,  that  the 
bare  possibiHty  of  the  modern  developments  of 
human  genius  and  of  social  progress,  have  arisen 
very  much  from  the  essential  characteristics  of  the 
metals,  and  the  application  of  mineral  fuel  to  their 
manipulation. 

Throughout  the  many  discourses,  or  essays, 
which  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  address  to 
learned  and  thoughtful  men,  whether  in  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  or  the  British  Associa- 
tion, or  Church  Congresses,  it  has  been  my  aim 
and  my  hope  to  convince  others,  as  I  am  con- 
vinced myself,  that  so  far  from  the  existence  of 
a  natural  antagonism,  there  is  a  divine  bond  of 
correlation  between  the  revelation  of  God's  will, 
when  properly  interpreted,  in  His  ancient  Word, 
and  that  which  (in  a  lower  degree)  is  deducible 
from  the  ever-present  manifestations  of  His  ever- 
present  works.  Nature  and  grace,  as  I  see  them, 
are  not  in  conflict,  they  are  in  continuity.  They 
bear  the  impress  of  the  same  wise  and  beneficent 
forethought. 

No  doubt  the  unexampled  mental  activity  of 
the  present  age,  its  rapid  discoveries,  its  fearless 
questionings  into  the  rights  and  relations  of  things, 
its  re-examinations  of  principles  long  since  believed 
to  be  settled  and  understood  ;  and  in  the  midst 
of  all  this,  the  unquestionable  abounding  of  wrong, 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  89 

must  necessarily  evoke  pain  and  an  uneasy 
apprehension  in  many  pious  and  sensitive  minds. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  in  this  way  that  the  great  tide 
wave  of  human  development  is  ordained  to 
advance.  For  a  time  this  process  is  troublesome 
and  painful  ;  and  as  the  tidal  wave  slowly  but 
surely  advances,  some  barks  which  rested  on  an 
insecure  anchorage  get  adrift  and  are  stranded ;  still, 
it  is  in  this  way  alone  that  the  great  estuaries,  and 
creeks,  and  havens  are  filled  from  the  ocean  of  truth. 
I  know  not  whether  words  or  testimony  of 
mine  may  in  the  slightest  degree  avail  to  check 
the  despondency  or  remove  the  apprehension  of 
any  young  clergyman  who  may  be  doubtful  as 
to  the  generic  tendency  of  scientific  pursuits  ; 
but  this  much  I  may  say,  that,  after  a  life,  already 
not  a  short  one,  spent  in  the  study  of  Science  and  of 
Philosophical  Divinity,  and  living  in  equal  intimacy 
with  men  of  science  and  with  thoughtful  divines, 
I  have  learned  nothing  which  can  reasonably 
disturb  an  impartial  mind,  either  in  its  conviction 
of  the  truths  of  Christianity  as  interpreted  by  the 
more  moderate  sections  of  the  Christian  Church, 
or  in  its  acceptance  of  the  divine  inspiration  of 
the  sacred  Scriptures,  not  indeed  as  literal  or 
punctual,  but  as  generic  and  substantial.  I  am 
equally  assured  that  the  general  development  of 
human  knowledge  is  friendly  to  these  convictions. 


PSALMS  VIII  AND   XIX 

"When  I  consider  Thy  heavens,  the  work  of  Thy  fingers;  the 
moon  and  the  stars,  which  Thou  hast  ordained  ;  What  is 
man,  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  and  the  son  of  man,  that 
Thou  visitest  him  ?  .  .  .  There  is  neither  speech  nor  language, 
but  their  voices  are  heard  among  them." 

It  is  now  three  thousand  years  ago  that  a  young 
shepherd,  tending  his  sheep  by  night  on  the  hills 
of  an  obscure  village  in  one  of  the  most  secluded 
corners  of  the  earth,  moved  by  a  divine  impulse, 
burst  forth  into  a  hymn  of  praise,  which  has  be- 
come the  common  inheritance  of  pious  hearts  ever 
since.  The  canopy  of  heaven  lay  stretched  above 
him  like  a  curtain  studded  with  spangles  of  light  ; 
and  as  the  bright  stars  came  out  one  after  another 
in  that  eastern  sky,  with  a  brilliancy  and  a 
splendour  almost  unimaginable  to  ourselves,  his 
mind  glanced  upwards,  through  and  beyond  these 
lights,  to  the  throne  of  the  great  God  of  his 
fathers  ;  to  Jehovah,  of  whose  glory  those  stars 
were  the  heralds  and  the  types.      High  above  the 


I 


DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  91 

rest  of  God's  magnificent  creation,  these  hosts  of 
heaven  moved  onwards  in  their  stately  march, 
silent  and  speechless  ;  but  within  his  own  well- 
tutored  spirit  (for  God  was  his  teacher)  there  is 
the  whisper  of  a  still  small  voice  : 

♦'Jehovah  our  Lord,  how  excellent  is  Thy  name  in  all  the  earth, 
Who  hast  set  Thy  glory  above  the  heavens  ! " 

And  the  reply  of  his  own  lips  is  in  unison, — 

"  When  I  see  Thy  heavens,  the  work  of  Thy  fingers, 
The  moon  and  the  stars  which  Thou  hast  ordained  ; 

What  is  man,  that  Thou  are  mindful  of  him, 
And  the  son  of  man,  that  Thou  visitest  him  ? 

That  having  made  him  a  little  lower  than  God,^ 
Thou  crownest  him  with  glory  and  honour?" 

Now  many  of  US  must  have  often  put  to  ourselves 
the  question,  what  did  the  inspired  poet  mean  by 
those  happily  familiar  but  memorable  words  of 
his,  WJiat  is  man?  Most  interpreters,  perhaps 
all  the  ancient  ones,  have  considered  that  the 
insignificance  of  man  is  the  thought  uppermost 
in  the  Psalmist's  mind.  I  have  long  believed, 
and  I  still  venture  to  believe,  the  reverse.  The 
insignificance  of  man  may,  for  an  instant,  have 
naturally  occurred  to  the  Psalmist's  mind,  as  he 
mused  in  the  lonely  watches  of  the  night,  and  in 
the  midst  of  the  grandeur  around  him  ;  but  the 
thought  would  be  chased  away,  soon  as  it  was 
conceived.      These    stars,   and   yon   stately   moon, 

1  Dean  Perowne  on  the  Psalms.      (See  Note  C.) 


92        TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

are  glorious  indeed  ;  glorious  also  and  vast  are  all 
those  other  works  of  Jehovah's  hands,  which  they 
illumine  and  surround  ;  and  yet,  insignificant  as 
he  seems  at  the  first,  how  much  more  glorious 
must  Man  in  reality  be,  to  whom  is  consigned  the 
dominion  over  them  all,  and  who  was  created  only 
a  little  lower  than  God  ! 

"  Thou  madest  him  a  little  lower  than  God  ; 
Thou  crownest  him  with  glory  and  honour. 
Thou  makest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the  works 
of  Thy  hands  ; 
Thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet." 

Such,  we  are  persuaded,  is  at  least  an  ap- 
proximation to  the  feelings  of  the  inspired  man, 
when  he  breathed  forth  this  hymn  of  surpassing 
beauty.  Three  thousand  years,  as  we  have  said, 
have  rolled  away  since  David  thus  mused  on  the 
hills  of  Bethlehem.  He  knew  little  or  nothing  of 
what  those  stars  were,  beyond  this,  that  they  were 
the  creations  of  the  hand  of  his  fathers'  God  ; 
nevertheless,  the  prophetic  intuitions  of  his  mind 
suggested  to  him  that,  in  some  way  or  other,  they 
told  a  tale  of  the  greatness  of  man.  Since  his 
day,  other  prophets  have  arisen  ;  Prophets  of 
Nature,  expounders  of  the  works  of  God,  men 
inspired,  we  doubt  not,  like  Bezaleel,  with  a  lofty 
genius,  and  gifted  with  patience  to  apply  it  ;  and 
these  have  disclosed  to  us  many  a  wonder  in  those 
stars,  such  as   poets   in   their  wildest  fancies  never 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  93 

dreamed  of:  and  that,  too,  by  methods,  and  with 
a  precision,  not  less  wonderful  than  the  facts  in 
the  discoveries  themselves.  These  suns,  which  by 
their  distance  and  their  brightness  seem  to  defy 
the  access  of  all  human  cognisance,  have  yielded 
to  the  eye  and  the  questionings  of  science,  properly 
directed,  strong  and  unmistakable  evidence  that 
they  were,  from  the  very  first,  created  as  parts  of 
a  divine,  magnificent  plan,  intended  in  the  fulness 
of  time  to  subserve  the  wellbeing  of  intelligent 
creatures.  Among  the  myriads  of  other  suns, 
our  own  sun,  if  we  interpret  his  parable  aright, 
was  formed  with  the  original  but  far  distant  inten- 
tion of  not  merely  sustaining  the  physical  life  of 
an  endless  variety  of  animated  beings,  but 
especially  to  be  the  means  of  developing  the 
intellectual,  and  to  some  extent  the  moral,  qualities 
of  a  being  such  as  man  ;  to  bring  him,  in  fact, 
nigher  and  nigher  to  the  Universal  Father,  who 
has  endued  him  with  the  intellectual  capacity  of 
understanding  his  works,  and  with  the  higher  capa- 
city of  holding  communion  with  the  Spirit  of  Him, 
who  breathed  into  his  soul  the  breath  of  an  endless 
life.  This,  then,  is  our  subject :  it  is  a  glance 
upwards,  from  the  Creator's  works  to  the  loving 
discernment  of  some  little  portion  of  the  Creator's 
plan  and  the  Creator's  will. 

But  a  thesis    such    as  this  ;    the  original    and 


94       TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

necessary  connection,  that  is,  of  the  stars  and  our 
sun,  with  the  development  of  the  intellectual  and 
moral  faculties  of  man,  may  seem  strange  at  its 
first  enunciation,  and  may  possibly  be  received 
with  the  hesitation  of  some  doubt  Nevertheless, 
I  feel  assured  that  you  will,  in  the  sequel,  come  to 
pretty  much  the  same  conclusion  as  myself,  that 
this  is  the  true  interpretation  of  the  newly-learnt 
language  of  the  heavens,  and  the  legitimate 
conclusion  to  which  we  are  brought  by  the 
contemplation  of  many  of  those  arrangements  in 
Nature  with  which  we  are  familiar  :  they  are  parts 
of  a  divine  plan  to  bring  us  nearer  and  nearer  to 
God. 

It  may  indeed  be,  that  to  the  sensibilities  of 
some  Christian  minds  such  a  thesis  as  this  may 
also  seem  for  a  moment  to  jar  with  the  thought 
of  that  humility  which  befits  creatures  like  our- 
selves, in  our  present  confessedly  low  and  fallen 
estate  ;  and  there  may  be  a  pre-conception  that  it 
is  not  compatible  with  those  revealed  and  higher 
methods  by  which  man  is  to  be  brought  into 
communion  with  the  Spirit  of  his  Maker  :  but  we 
must  not  forget  that  the  Creator  works  by  a 
multiplicity  of  means  ;  and  we  can  gradually  learn 
His  will,  only  by  taking  into  true  account  all  the 
phenomena  with  which  He  surrounds  us,  the 
revelations  in  His  written  word  being  the  greatest 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  95 

and  the  most  necessary  among  them.  HumiHty 
also  shines  the  most  brightly  when  she  walks  at 
the  side  of  her  sister,  Hope,  and  in  the  consciousness 
of  the  possession  of  faculties  yet  to  be  developed. 
I  doubt  not  that  with  myself  you  have  often 
read  some  such  language  as  the  following,  falling 
from  the  pens  of  pious  but  (as  I  think)  mistaken 
writers  : — "  Man  finds  himself  placed  on  a  little 
planet,  whose  comparative  insignificance  is  such, 
that  were  it  struck  from  the  face  of  creation,  its 
fate  would  be  like  that  of  a  falling  star,  which 
loses  itself  in  the  heavens  and  is  remembered  no 
more.  And  as  to  himself,  what  an  atom  is  he  ! 
WJiat  an  atom  is  he  !  How  humbling  and  appall- 
ing is  the  thought  !"^  Now  I,  for  one,  confess  to 
little  sympathy  with  any  such  thought.  For  this 
thought  does  not  seem  to  be  language  applicable 
to  an  immortal  spirit,  for  which  the  Son  of  God 
became  incarnate,  and  for  which  Christ  died  :  it 
has  nothing  in  common  with  a  redeemed  and 
immortal  spirit,  capable  of  coimminion  ivitJi  the 
StLpreme.  Surely  nothing  is  intrinsically  little, 
which  is  capable  of  great  conceptions  ;  nor  can 
any  spirit  be  intrinsically  ignoble,  which  is  capable, 
like  man's,  of  noble  aspirations.  There  is  a  sense 
in  which  even  the  highest  philosophy  is  the  philo- 
sophy of  hope. 

1  Sacred  Philosophy  of  the  Seasons,  l^y  Dr.  Duncan. 


96       TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

I  said  that  our  present  subject  was  not  so 
much  the  revelation  of  the  glory  of  God  displayed 
by  the  stars,  as  the  intimation  of  a  portion  of  His 
will  and  of  the  unity  of  His  plan,  to  be  gathered 
thence  by  those  who  have  the  heart  and  the 
diligence  to  decipher  their  language.  But  herein 
I  fear  I  must  ask  you,  for  a  few  minutes,  to  avail 
yourselves  of  that  curious  faculty,  God's  gift  to 
you,  by  which  you  throw  your  thoughts  back- 
ward to  the  ages  before  the  genesis  of  the 
stars  themselves.  I  must  ask  you  to  contemplate 
in  your  imagination  one  of  those  seemingly  little 
nebulous  patches  of  dim,  icy  light,  which  the  eye 
of  science  is  permitted  to  observe  scattered  hither 
and  thither,  though  not  in  disorder,  amidst  the 
heavens.  I  say  nothing  of  their  distance,  it  is  at 
present  by  us  immeasurable :  I  can  give  you  no 
account  of  the  vast  extent  of  their  diffusion,  to  us 
at  present  it  is  inconceivable.  Icy  enough  these 
patches  seem  in  their  pale,  fleecy  light,  but  modern 
thought  traces  therein  masses  of  metallic  vapoitr 
glowing  with  a  heat  and  a  light,  defying  perhaps 
the  power  of  man,  even  in  all  his  dominion  over  the 
elements  of  nature,  to  evoke  or  to  imitate.-^  They 
are  not  stars  as  yet,  nor  systems  of  stars  :  they 
are  rather  the  birth   spots   and    the    material   for 

1  Since  this  was  written,  Mr.  Lockyer  believes  these  nebulous 
lights  are  due  to  the  collisions  of  meteors,  evolving  thereby  a  heat 
not  exceeding  that  of  a  Bunsen  flame. 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  97 

future  suns.      They  are  such  as  our  own   sun   and 
our  own  system  once  w^ere,  in  the  womb  of  time. 

You  have,  many  of  you,  heard  from  the  gifted 
man  who  worthily  presides  over  the  Association 
now  assembled  in  your  city,  that  amidst  such  or 
similar  masses  of  celestial  vapour,  you  have  the 
unquestionable  traces  of  the  presence  of  just  those 
terrestrial  substances  which  to  human  cognisance 
are  the  most  familiar,  such  as  hydrogen,  and 
nitrogen,  and  carbon,  and  iron,  and  lime.  I 
hesitate  not  to  use  terms  so  unwonted  in  this 
sacred  place,  and  on  this  the  best  day  of  all  the 
seven  ;  for  are  they  not  all  the  creations  of  our 
great  Father's  hands  ?  are  they  not  the  indications 
of  our  Father's  mind  ;  revelations  accorded  to 
the  patient  study  of  our  Father's  works  ?  But  it 
is  not  now  the  mere  existence  of  substances  so 
familiar,  in  those  remote  regions  of,  to  us,  a 
boundless  space,  which  once  we  little  supposed  we 
were  endowed  of  God  with  faculties  to  pierce  ; 
it  is  not,  I  say,  their  mere  existence  that  I  ask  you 
to  observe,  but  rather  I  wish  you  to  note  the  fact 
that  these  are  just  the  very  elements  which  are 
ordained  for  the  construction  of  an  animal  frame, 
and  just  the  very  elements  w^hich  are  essential  to 
clothe  and  to  sustain  it.  What  is  far  more  to  our 
present  purpose,  I  see  in  such  nebulous  patches  of 
inconceivably    distant    light,  the   genesis    of   that 

H 


98        TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

iron  and  of  those  minerals  and  elements  which, 
in  the  case  of  our  own  planet,  are  at  this  moment 
wisely  and  beneficently  taxing  and  straining  the 
powers  of  tJie  Jinman  mind,  and  by  tJiis  taxing  and 
strainings  are  ordained  to  develop  and  improve 
them. 

The  time  and  the  place  properly  restrain  me 
from  speaking  at  any  length  regarding  the  majestic 
evolutions  of  these  glowing  vapours,  whereby,  as 
they  revolved,  they  successively  threw  off  mass  after 
mass,  which,  on  slowly  cooling,  consolidated  into 
planets  like  the  firm  globe  on  which  we  stand, 
leaving  the  far  larger  and  central  mass  to  give 
light,  and  warmth,  and  vitality  to  the  worlds  thus 
ordained  to  nestle  and  circulate  around  it.  It  is 
true  that  no  astronomer  as  yet  has  seen  any  one 
of  these  hot  flocculent  masses  of  vapour  actually 
passing  through  its  various  stages  of  evolution  •} 
for  this  is  the  result  of  ages  upon  ages  of  time, 
beyond  human  conception  ;  but  we  have  seen, 
and  w^e  may  still  see,  many  of  them  in  different 
stages  of  their  progress  to  a  more  consolidated 
form.  Sir  William  Herschel,  who,  by  his  sagacity 
and  indomitable  patience,  first  brought  these  mighty 
operations  in  the  skies  within  human  cognisance, 
observed,  in   the  spirit  of  a   true  philosophy,  that 

1  Mr.  Lockyer  believes  he  can  trace  this  growth  of  condensation 
in  the  spectra  of  the  stars  themselves. 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  99 

It  can  make  no  real  difference  in  our  conception 
of  the  growth  of  a  particular  tree,  whether  we  saw 
that  one  tree  actually  growing  under  our  eyes,  or 
at  several  times  saw  different  trees  of  the  same 
kind  in  various  stages  of  their  growth.  So  it  is 
that  we  can  see  and  can  delineate  at  the  present 
hour  many  nebulae  in  apparently  various  stages  of 
condensation  into  a  sun  ;  nay,  it  was  but  a  day  or 
two  ago  that  intelligence  came  among  yourselves 
how  there  is  decisive  evidence  that  at  least  one 
of  these  vaporous  masses  has  changed  its  form 
within  the  lifetime  of  a  single  observer.  No  doubt 
you  will  hear  from  high  authority  to-morrow  how 
we  can  daily  see  the  mighty  seethings  and  gigantic 
contortions  of  the  glowing  vapours  of  our  own  sun. 
Such,  we  are  persuaded,  is  the  true  interpreta- 
tion of  those  words  of  surpassing  sublimity  with 
which  the  inspired  records  of  God's  grace  to 
man  commence  :  "  In  the  beginning  God  created 
the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  the  earth  was 
without  form  and  void."  But  it  is  not  even  from 
this  point  of  view  that  I  wish  to  present  the 
subject  before  you  ;  I  rather  wish  you  to  regard 
this  wonderful  evolution  of  the  worlds  (creation 
you  may  call  it,  if  you  please).  I  wish  you  to 
regard  this  mighty  evolution  as  a  magnificent 
prolepsis  of  the  Divine  intention  ;  I  wish  you  to 
recognise  therein  the  earliest  propJiccy  of  a  portion, 


lOO     TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

at  least,  of  the  plan  and  the  will  of  the  Supreme 
Creator.  I  look  into  the  vista  of  the  ages  that 
are  past,  and  I  read  in  this  evolution  of  our  world, 
a  beneficent  intention  that,  in  the  slow  fulness 
of  time,  an  intelligent  being  such  as  man  should 
there  find  a  habitation  fitted  by  the  Divine  hand 
for  his  abode  and  for  his  development 

His  Creator  gives  not  to  him,  as  with  a  lavish 
hand  He  gives  to  His  lower  creatures,  beautiful 
habitations  to  live  in,  constructed  by  no  skilful 
prescience  of  their  own  ;  He  gives  not  to  vian^  as 
He  gives  to  them  and  to  the  lilies  of  the  field,  a 
beautiful  array  to  clothe  them,  the  product  of  no 
toil  of  theirs,  and  spun  by  no  loom  of  their  own 
contrivance  ;  but  the  bright  revolving  worlds  above 
tell  us,  that  in  the  ages  past  God  by  the  fiat  of  His 
word  stored  away  for  man  materials  wherewith  to 
build  mansions  for  himself,  materials  wherewith  to 
spin  clothing  for  his  body,  and  the  elements  from 
whence,  at  the  bidding  of  his  own  volition,  he 
shall  procure  the  bread  that  strengthens,  and  the 
wine  that  cheers  him. 

But  more  than  this,  and,  be  it  remembered, 
quite  independent  of  these  material  stores,  God 
has  also  given  His  responsible  creature  a  capacity 
to  build  and  to  spin  ;  better  still,  He  has  given 
him  a  capacity  to  discern  the  mind,  and  a  coniviand 
to  love  the    Fatherly   Spirit,  of  the    Omnipotent 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  loi 

Giver.  And  when  I  see  the  palaces  and  the 
sacred  temples,  pyramids  and  iron  roads,  canals 
and  docks,  steam  hammers  and  hydraulic  cranes, 
the  products  of  man's  constructive  art  ;  when  I  see 
the  tissues  of  his  loom  vying  with  the  gossamer's 
web,  and  the  colours  of  his  chemistry  emulating 
the  tints  of  the  setting  sun  ;  then  so  far  from  the 
shadow  of  pride  obscuring  my  spirit,  or  the  foot 
of  pride  misleading  my  steps,  my  mind  glances 
through  and  beyond  the  genius  of  God's  gifted 
creatures,  far  away  to  the  throne  of  the  Father 
and  the  Creator,  who,  ages  upon  ages  ago,  was 
providing  for  His  child  all  things  richly  to  enjoy, 
and  then  ultimately  inspired  him  with  powers  and 
capacities  which,  just  in  proportion  as  he  applies 
them,  improve  and  improve,  and  bring  him  nigher 
and  nigher  to  the  Divine. 

And  if,  again,  it  has  been  said  in  no  reverent 
spirit,  that  it  is  not  so  much  the  glory  of  God  as 
the  glory  of  a  Newton  and  a  Herschel  which  is 
now  displayed  in  the  heavens,  then  I  accept  with 
gratitude  the  saying,  so  far  as  the  glory  of  the 
creature  is  concerned  ;  but  my  spirit  soon  glances 
away  to  that  Eternal  Mind,  the  mere  fragments  of 
whose  thoughts  comprise  and  contain  all  that  ever 
has  been,  or  ever  can  be,  reflected  from  the  mind 
of  the  created. 

Thus  the  most  recent  and  the  most  remarkable 


I02      TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

acquisition  that  has  been  made  in  modern  times 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  sidereal  heavens,  leads  to 
a  fresh  and  I  may  say  to  an  unexpected  discern- 
ment of  the  remoteness  and  continuity  of  the 
Divine  plan.  We  see  how  in  the  wonderful 
evolutions  by  which  it  is  God's  will  that  the 
worlds  are  formed,  there  has  been  slowly  laid  up 
a  rich  store  of  materials  for  the  future  uses  of  an 
intelligent  and  responsible  inhabitant.  But  it  is  at 
the  same  time  ordained  that  he  shall  draw  forth 
these  rich  materials  not  without  the  sweat  of  his 
brow  ;  nor  appropriate  them  to  his  purposes  apart 
from  the  diligent  and  toilsome  exertion  of  his 
inventive  powers.  In  this  way  man  is  by  labour 
ordained  to  subdue  the  earth  ;  and  better  than 
that,  by  diligent  exertion  in  the  midst  of  difficulty, 
he  is  ordained  to  improve  and  exalt  his  powers, 
and  transmit  them  to  his  posterity  thus  improved. 
I  know  not  where  this  onward  progress  is  to  stop, 
short  of  an  approach  to  the  mind  of  the  Supreme. 
And  just  so  it  is  with  the  higher  faculties  of 
the  soul  of  man,  with  the  affections  of  his  heart  ; 
these  can  only  be  matured  and  grow  up  to  their 
perfection  in  the  image  of  Christ,  through  the 
discipline  of  many  a  struggle,  and  the  schooling 
of  many  a  grief:  the  path  of  trial  and  trouble  is, 
I  will  not  say  the  only  path,  but  it  is  surely  the 
ordinary  path,  by  which  a  man  becomes  acquainted 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  103 

with  God,  or  acquainted  with  himself.      We  some- 
times   wonder    why    a    benevolent     Father    and 
Creator  permits  difficulty,  and  suffering,  and   slow 
decay,  to   form  so  large  a  portion  of  the  lot  of  his 
creatures  ;    but    constituted,  as   we    are,  with    im- 
perfect though  improvable  faculties  and  affections, 
it  would   be  still  harder  to  see  how  it  could  have 
been    otherwise    with    us,    consistently    with    our 
moral    advancement.-^       For    it    is    a    matter    of 
experience    that    the    world's    noblest    and    most 
enduring  lessons,  its   brightest  and   most  effectual 
examples,  come  to  us,  for  the  most  part,  through  hard- 
ship and  pain  ;   and  it  is  difficult  to  see  what  scope 
there  would   be  for  the  exercise  and  development 
of  the  finest  of  human  qualities,  such  as   patience, 
and  sympathy,  and  bravery,  and  magnanimity  and 
forbearance,  if  there  were  no  wrongs  to  remove  or 
to    endure,  and    no  sufferings    to  assuage.      Love 
has   many  other  phases  besides  joy  ;   and  wisdom 
has   many  other  objects   to  provide   for,  besides  a 
painless  existence.      It  is  said  of  the  greatest  and 
best    man    this    earth    has    ever   seen,  the    Divine 
Man,  that  He  was  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
with  grief ;  and  a  similar  measure  must  be  meted 
out  to  his  disciples,  for  they  too,  like  their  Master, 
can   only  be   made    perfect    by   the   things   which 
they  suffer. 

^   See  Professor  Jellett's  Sermons  on  Old  Testament  Difficulties. 


I04     TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

So  then  there  is  one  and  the  same  law  ordained 
for  the  sanctification  of  our  affections,  and  for  the 
development  of  our  mental  powers  ;  the  law  of 
difficulty,  and  struggle,  and  trial.  And  these,  to 
the  conception  of  the  Christian,  these  are  the 
voices  that  are  heard  among  the  stars,  "  whose 
sound  is  gone  out  into  all  lands,  and  their  words 
unto  the  ends  of  the  world." 

"Jehovah  our  Lord  ! 
When  I  see  Thy  heavens,  the  work  of  Thy  hands, 
The  moon  and  the  stars  which  Thou  hast  ordained, 
What  is  man,  that  Thou  are  mindful  of  him, 
And  the  son  of  man,  that  Thou  so  visitest  him  !  " 

We  began  with  the  young  shepherd  visited  by 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  as  he  mused  by  night  on 
the  hills  of  Bethlehem.  The  Christian's  thoughts 
glance  along  a  thousand  years,  and  again  rest 
upon  the  same  hills  :  but  the  hills  and  the 
shepherds  are  now  surrounded  by  a  greater  glory 
than  the  splendour  of  the  stars,  and  they  hear  the 
sound  of  celestial  voices  more  articulate  than 
theirs  ;  nevertheless  "  Man  "  is  again  the  theme  ; 
man  in  his  redemption  —  the  Manhood  taken 
into  God.  For  suddenly  upon  those  hills  there 
was  a  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  praising 
God,  and  saying,  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest, 
and  on  earth  peace,  goodwill  to  man."  For  unto 
them   and  unto  all  God's  children   throughout  the 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  105 

world,  there  was  that  day  born  in  the  city  of 
David  a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ  the  Lord.  Thus, 
we  are  naturally  brought,  at  the  close  of  our 
meditations,  whither  the  Christian  is  so  often 
brought  at  the  close  of  his  own,  to  the  thought  of 
the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  to  that 
solemn,  fateful  event  when  the  manhood  was 
taken  into  God.  I  call  it  fateful,  for  the  Incarna- 
nation  is  the  one  central  point  of  all  human  history ; 
the  one  central  light  which  alone  illuminates  the 
hopes  and  the  dignity  of  the  human  race.  It  is 
thither  that  the  Christian  turns  in  his  trials,  in  his 
struggles,  and  even  in  his  aspirations  and  his  joys. 
He  seeks  to  solve  their  meaning,  but  it  is  "  too 
hard  "  for  him,  until  he  reads  them  in  the  light 
which  shines  from  the  lowly  manger  where  the 
Divine  Child  lay  :  it  is  there,  and  there  only,  that 
he  understands  "  the  luhence  "  and  "  the  ivhithcr  of 
his  being ; "  whence  he  came,  what  he  is,  and 
whither  he  is  going  :  it  is  there  that  he  finds  the 
remedy  that  strengthens  his  weakness,  the  medicine 
that  removes  his  sin,  the  food  that  sustains  his 
hopes. 

It  is  alone  in  the  light  which  streams  from 
Bethlehem,  that  he  can  discern  who  and  what 
that  mysterious  Man  was,  who  in  the  streets  of 
Jerusalem,  and  in  the  villages  of  Galilee,  went 
about    doing   good,   as    no    man    had    ever    done 


io6     TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE   TO  CONTINUITY 

before :  intensely  human,  yet  perfectly  Divine. 
It  is  in  this  light  alone  that  he  understands  the 
words  of  that  Divine  Man,  who  in  the  courts  of 
the  Temple  spake  as  no  man  ever  spake  before. 
It  is  alone  in  the  light  of  the  Incarnation  that  he 
unravels  those  mysterious  words,  "  I  am  the 
Resurrection  and  the  Life,"  wherewith  are  consoled 
not  alone  the  sisters  at  Bethany,  but  all  Christian 
mourners  scattered  throughout  the  earth,  and  as 
long  as  death  shall  reign  upon  this  fallen  world. 
It  is  alone  by  the  light  which  streams  from 
Bethlehem,  that  the  Christian  deciphers  the  kingly 
inscription  on  the  Cross  at  Calvary.  Henceforth 
what  a  flood  of  light  flows  over  the  present  and 
the  future  life  of  Christ's  redeemed  !  What  a 
pregnant  reality  shines  through  all  those  invitations 
to  a  perfect  life  in  this  world,  and  over  those 
promises  of  glory  in  a  world  to  come  !  For  there 
is  henceforth  established  a  brotherhood  between 
the  human  and  the  Divine.  Herein,  then,  we  see 
the  Divine  origin  of  those  passionate  yearnings, 
those  "  obstinate  questionings "  which  beset  the 
soul  :  they  are  the  manifestations  of  the  manhood 
already  taken  into  God  ;  they  are  the  correlatives 
here  of  the  higher  life  which  awaits  him  hereafter  ; 
they  are  links  in  the  continuity  of  the  human 
with  the  Divine.  It  is  hither,  also,  that  we  trace 
the  source  of  those  wonderful  hopes  of  illimitable 


I 


OF  DIVINE   THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  107 

progress  held  out  to  the  true  followers  of  Christ, 
which  no  created  being  could  venture  to  appropriate, 
did  they  not  abound  in  the  language  of  the 
Scriptures,  warranted  and  explained  by  the  fact 
of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God.  "  Be  ye 
perfect,  even  as  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is 
perfect :  "  this  is  the  language  of  Christ  himself ; 
and  the  words  of  His  Apostles  are  like  to  it  : 
"  partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature  ;  "  "  growing  up 
into  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of 
Christ  ; "   "  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God." 

So  then,  the  light  of  modern  discovery  con- 
spires with  the  inspiration  of  the  ancient  word,  to 
illuminate  the  origin,  the  progress,  and  the  destiny 
of  man.  Each  of  them  points  to  a  continuity  of 
the  Divine  Thought  on  his  behalf  That  Divine 
Thought  was  manifested  in  the  ages  of  eternity 
when  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  prophetic 
vaporous  whiffs,  without  form  and  void  ;  it  ac- 
companied the  dispensations  of  history  ;  it 
culminated  in  the  promise  of  a  new  heaven  and 
a  new  earth,  the  abode  of  holiness  and  peace, 
where  the  man,  redeemed  by  the  blood,  sanctified 
by  the  Spirit,  and  clothed  in  the  righteousness 
of  Christ,  shall  grow  up  into  the  likeness  of  God. 
"Thou  madest  him  a  little  lower  than 
God,  Thou  crownest  him  with  glory  and 

HONOUR." 


NOTES 

A  (Page  87) 

ON    THE    CONTINUITY    OF    THE    METHOD    OF    PROPHECY 

It  has  long  been  remarked  that  a  secondary  sense  per- 
vades the  prophetical  portions  of  the  sacred  Scriptures. 
It  appears  to  run  through  them  systematically.  As 
surely  as  a  crisis  of  difficulty  or  sorrow  befalls  the  Church 
of  God  during  two  thousand  years,  so  surely  there  comes 
to  it  a  divine  communication  to  lighten  its  troubles  or 
direct  its  counsels ;  and  not  only  so,  but  the  terms  in 
which  the  message  is  conveyed  greatly  over-reach  the 
temporary  difficulties  of  the  crisis  itself  The  language 
looks  through  and  beyond  the  crisis,  to  some  greater 
and  higher  form  of  deliverance  yet  to  come.  Thus  the 
method  of  the  prophecy,  as  distinct  from  its  subject,  is 
-characteristic  and  continuous. 

The  Bible  opens  with  an  instance  of  the  sort,  in  the 
promised  victory  of  the  seed  of  the  woman  over  the 
serpent  who  had  beguiled  her,  and  the  same  principle 
recurs  repeatedly  in   the  history   of   Abraham  and  his 


DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  109 

immediate  descendants.  The  Psalms  especially  abound 
with  expressions  having  a  secondary  meaning,  for  while 
the  sacred  poetry  seems  to  flow  spontaneously  from  the 
innermost  consciousness  of  the  writer,  and  while  it 
embraces,  and  sincerely  expresses,  the  actual  emotions 
of  his  spirit  at  the  moment,  nevertheless,  it  not  seldom 
overruns  the  circumstances  of  his  actual  condition,  and 
requires  some  special  interpretation,  which,  at  the  moment 
of  utterance,  must  have  been  obscure.  It  is  here  un- 
necessary to  select  specific  instances  of  this  secondary 
meaning ;  they  will  naturally  suggest  themselves  in 
sufficient  abundance  to  the  reader's  memory.  There  is, 
however,  one  of  them,  which,  though  it  is  far  from  pos- 
sessing any  crucial  importance,  nevertheless  is  not  with- 
out its  own  interest  here,  from  its  connection  with  the 
text  of  the  sermon.  "Thou  hast  put  all  things  under 
his  feet "  is  the  language  of  David  in  the  sixth  verse ; 
and  when  he  adds,  "  All  sheep  and  oxen,  yea,  and  the 
beasts  of  the  field,"  it  becomes  sufficiently  apparent  that 
while  he  contemplated  the  power  of  man  over  the  greater 
physical  strength  of  many  of  the  animals,  we  may  be 
assured  that  he  especially  thought  also  of  his  own  conflict 
with  the  lion  and  the  bear,  the  memory  of  which  also 
occurred  to  him  in  the  most  dangerous  crisis  of  his  life, 
while  standing  before  the  Philistine  giant.  The  truth  of 
his  words  was,  and  still  is,  exemplified,  no  doubt,  in  man's 
general  dominion  over  nature  even  in  that  day,  and  still 
more  so  in  his  control  over  the  forces  of  nature  in  the 
present  age ;  but  the  words  themselves  receive  their  full 
and  intense  accomplishment,  they  are  alone  fulfilled  in 
the  case  of  Him  who  took  the  manhood  into  God,  who 
has  put,  or  who  will  put,  sin,  and  death,  and  hell,  under 


no     TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

his  feet,  and  who  reigns  supreme  over  the  hearts  of  his 
redeemed  and  sanctified  people. 

A  similar  thread,  but  one  of  a  more  decided  colour, 
runs  throughout  the  prophetic  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  will  be  found,  as  a  characteristic  feature,  in 
by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  Messianic  predictions. 

If  this  be  true ;  if  this  principle,  at  once  remarkable 
and  unique,  can  be  traced  throughout  a  long  series  of 
writings,  then  we  have  therein  a  continuity  of  prophetic 
method^  which,  considering  that  it  prevails  through  many 
centuries,  and  is  a  characteristic  form  of  utterance  by  so 
many  prophets  in  widely  distinct  ages  and  conditions  of 
the  Church  of  God,  can  be  indicative  of  an  origin  nothing 
short  of  Divine.  This  continuity  of  an  unique  7nethod, 
be  it  observed,  is  entirely  distinct  from  the  continuity  of 
prophecy  itself  as  directed,  in  the  main,  to  the  one  great 
event  of  the  Messianic  advent ;  it  is  entirely  distinct  also 
from  a  continuity  of  type,  and  equally  so  from  any 
method  of  mere  accommodation  of  language  adopted  at 
the  natural  suggestion  of  the  writer  who  cites  a  quotation. 

No  doubt  the  utterances  of  natural  genius  often 
transcend  the  circumstances  which  give  them  birth ;  no 
doubt  they  sometimes  possess  a  proleptic  capacity,  and 
are,  in  a  certain  sense,  prophetic ;  for  in  the  utterance, 
the  fire  of  genius  within,  strives  to  embody  feelings  and 
intuitions  which  are  too  great  for  the  language  of  the 
hour,  and  so  the  burning  apothegm  springs  forth  and  lives 
in  the  memories  and  experience  of  men  as  an  everlasting 
possession.  But  no  amount  of  natural  genius,  no  amount 
of  the  quickening  of  intellectual  or  emotional  endowments, 
can  account  for  a  long  series  of  utterances,  by  men  of  dif- 
ferent habits,  in  different  ages,  and  in  different  grades  of 


OF  DIVIXE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  iii 

society,  such  that,  while  they  adequately  einbrace  and 
express  the  junctures  and  troubles  of  their  oivn  day, 
converge  onwards  to  one  single,  distant  event  in  the 
world's  history,  of  which  the  world's  history  hitherto  had 
afforded  neither  presentiment  nor  parallel.  There  is  a 
Divine  Continuity  in  the  Prophetic  Alethod  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures. 

It  may  be  interesting  here  to  make  a  passing  remark 
on  another  characteristic  mark  of  continuity,  which 
attaches  to  all  the  prophetic  writings  throughout  the 
Scriptures.  It  was  (I  believe)  first  observed  by  Isaac 
Taylor,  in  his  charming  work  on  the  Spirit  of  the  Hebrew 
Poetry,  and  to  that  publication  the  reader  is  referred  for 
the  fuller  exposition  of  a  subject  which  cannot  be  entirely 
grasped  in  the  brief  space  allowable  to  a  note.  I  may 
be  permitted  to  call  it  th'e  Continuity  of  Individuality  in 
the  prophetic  utterances. 

These  utterances  came  to  the  people  of  God  through 
the  agency  of  a  succession  of  speakers,  of  every  conceiv- 
able variety  of  natural  temper  and  social  position,  from 
the  herdsman  to  the  king,  from  the  warrior  to  the 
minister  of  religion  ;  they  came  to  the  people  of  God  at 
various  intervals,  through  a  thousand  years,  in  all  con- 
ceivable varieties  of  national  fortune  ;  and  yet,  no  sooner 
do  we  read  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  than  the  personal 
individuality  of  the  Divine  Speaker  becomes  at  once 
apparent.  "This  consistency"  (writes  Isaac  Taylor), 
"  this  exemption  from  the  variableness  that  attaches 
always  and  everywhere  else,  to  whatever  is  human,  is 
utterly  inconceivable  until,  for  its  explanation,  we  bring 
in  the   one  truth  that,  whoever   might  be  the  prophet 


112     TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

that  challenges  the  people  to  a  hearing,  the  Speaker  is 
ever  the  same  :  the  same  in  mind  and  purpose,  through 
a  thousand  generations.  Century  after  century,  through 
all  the  shiftings  of  a  people's  weal,  and  of  their  cor- 
respondence with  their  neighbours,  God,  their  God,  thus 
utters  His  mind.  Nothing  approaching  to  this  vivid 
revelation,  this  bringing  the  conception  of  the  Person 
home  to  the  consciousness  of  men,  has  elsewhere  ever 
taken  place ;  it  is  the  peculiarity  of  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures." It  is  (let  us  speak  with  all  reverence)  the  Con- 
tinuity of  the  Divine  Individuality. 


B 

With  reference  to  the  influence  which  the  greatly 
extended  manufacture  of  the  metals  has  had  upon  the 
general  progress  of  the  age,  I  have  expressed  my  con- 
viction that  the  Nebula  present  to  us  traces  of  an  original 
design  for  the  future  development  of  the  intelligence  of 
a  responsible  creature.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  establish 
the  proposition.  For  let  us  consider  what  it  is  which 
has  served  in  modern  times,  and  which  still  serves  so 
greatly  to  develop  and  expand  the  intellect  of  man. 
What  is  it  that  constitutes  the  strong  line  of  demarca- 
tion which  distinguishes  modern  from  ancient  thought  ? 
Wherein,  and  by  what  means,  are  the  men  of  these 
later  centuries  superior  in  knowledge,  and  in  mental  and 
material  power,  to  the  men  of  twenty  centuries  ago  ? 
We  are  much  mistaken  if  the  prophetic  elements  of  this 
advance  in  knowledge  and  power,  are  not  at  this  present 
hour  discernible  in  those  patches  of  telescopic  light  of 
which  we  have  already  said  so  much. 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  113 

"  For  let  us  go  back  a  little,  and  let  us  rapidly  con- 
sider for  a  moment  the  state  of  human  knowledge  before 
the  Christian  era  ;  and,  omitting  the  vast  and  persistent 
light  shed  over  almost  all  the  regions  of  human  thought 
by  Christianity  itself,  let  us  extend  the  date  to  within  two 
or  three  centuries  of  our  own  day.  The  old  Greek 
philqsopher,  by  the  time  of  Aristotle  more  than  twenty 
centuries  ago,  seems  to  have  exhausted  such  powers  as 
he  then  possessed  for  the  contemplation  of  the  structure 
of  his  own  mind,  and  for  inquiry  into  the  principles  of 
his  moral  nature.  He  had,  indeed,  groped  his  way  to 
the  conviction  of  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being,  and 
to  the  high  probability  of  his  own  immortality  :  to  a 
select  few  this  future  existence  had  become  a  hope,  but 
to  none  was  it  a  principle  of  action  or  a  guide  of  life. 
The  sciences  of  morals  and  of  mind  had  evidently 
arrived  at  their  limits  for  the  time.  In  statuary  and 
architecture  the  great  artists  of  Greece  have  bequeathed 
to  posterity  their  models,  which,  as  yet,  their  successors 
have  rarely  equalled,  and  have  never  surpassed.  In  the 
structure  of  a  perfect  language  the  writers  of  Greece  have 
found  no  equals,  and  in  sweetness  and  gravity  of  diction 
Plato  has  found  no  rival.  In  sublimity  and  pathos  no 
poems  have  greatly,  if  at  all,  surpassed  the  Iliad  or  the 
Athenian  drama.  In  pure  geometry,  until  lately,  there 
has  been  little  advance  beyond  the  school  of  Alexandria  ; 
and  in  arithmetic,  although  the  device  of  the  Arabic 
notation  afforded  wonderful  facilities  for  computation, 
there  existed  comparatively  little  that  it  was  worth  while 
to  compute.  The  advance  of  human  knowledge  seems, 
in  fact,  to  have  come  nearly  to  a  standstill  by  the 
century  which  proceeded   Newton.      What  was  it  then 

I 


114     TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

that  gave  the  new  impetus  by  which  we  moderns  so 
greatly  profit  ?  It  was  not  mainly  any  new  methods  of 
learning  so  strongly  urged  and  so  clearly  set  forth  by 
Bacon,  for  his  methods  had  already  been  the  only 
methods  by  which  all  true  knowledge  had  been  hereto- 
fore acquired.  Nor  was  it  subsequently  even  the  new 
philosophy,  or  the  new  geometry,  or  the  new  discoveries 
of  Newton,  that  alone  and  of  themselves  laid  the  secure 
foundation  of  modern  progress,  for  it  is  well  known  that 
Newton  withheld  his  discovery  of  gravitation  because  its 
results  did  not  square — as  square  they  could  not — with 
the  erroneous  measurements  which  then  existed  of  the 
dimensions  of  the  earth  and  of  its  distance  from  the 
moon.  No,  strange  to  say,  it  was  not  so  much  the 
philosophy  of  Bacon  or  the  discoveries  of  Newton 
which  gave  a  successful  impulse  to  the  new  inquiries  and 
to  the  advance  of  learning.  They  came  rather  from 
improvements  in  the  art  of  working  in  metal,  and  from 
that  of  devising  and  constructing  instruments  of  precision 
formed  of  metal.  It  was  the  metallic  measuring -rod 
and  the  metallic  quadrant  that  set  men  thinking,  and 
which  enabled  them  to  verify  or  to  discard  their  thoughts. 
It  was  better  measuring-rods,  and  better  quadrants,  and 
better  telescopes,  which  encouraged  Newton  to  pursue 
his  immortal  studies.  New  instruments  in  metal,  better 
devised  and  better  graduated,  led  to  better  observations, 
and  these  again  involved  the  necessity  of  fresh  calcula- 
tions and  of  more  extended  and  more  accurate  methods 
of  mathematical  research.  And,  just  as  at  the  present 
day  there  is  a  contest  between  instruments  of  destruction 
and  material  arrangements  for  a  secure  resistance,  so,  to 
the  great  advantage  and  the  furtherance  of  knowledge 


OF  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  115 

there  has  been  since  the  days  of  Newton  a  ceaseless 
contest,  with  alternate  victories,  between  the  instruments 
of  observation  and  the  methods  of  numerical  research. 
So  it  is  ultimately  mind  and  metal  that  are  ordained  to 
subdue  the  earth,  and  make  the  elements  and  the  forces 
of  Nature  subservient  to  the  intelligence  and  the  will  of 
man.  But  this  mind  is  the  breath  of  God,  and  these 
metals,  as  we  have  seen,  were,  in  the  far  vista  of  the 
ages  past,  stored  away  by  his  loving  prescience  in  nebuL^ 
or  meteoric  swarms  till,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  they  were 
evolved  into  forms  and  conditions  adapted  for  the  use 
of  man. 

We  may  form  some  clearer  and  more  enlarged 
conception  of  the  manner  and  the  extent  to  which 
inventions  connected  with  the  working  of  the  metals 
react  upon  the  intellectual  powers,  encouraging,  cor- 
roborating, and  fitting  them  for  new  and  higher  efforts, 
if  we  pause  a  little,  and,  by  way  of  example,  take  a  rapid 
survey  of  what  was  implied  in  the  laying  of  the  electric 
telegraph  across  the  bottom  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  In 
the  first  instance,  there  was  the  mechanical  skill  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  building  of  the  iron  ship.  Its  un- 
precedented dimensions,  its  form,  its  materials,  demanded 
new  inventions,  or  new  adaptations  of  old  processes,  at 
almost  every  step  in  the  progress  of  its  construction.  A 
host  of  mechanics,  amateurs,  and  lookers-on,  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  taxed  and  evoked 
the  powers  of  their  minds  as  they  either  engaged  in  the 
actual  work  or  mused  upon  or  discussed  its  difficulties 
and  its  progress.  It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  magni- 
tude of  the  intellectual  results  arising  from  this  condition 
of  widely  spread  and  active  thought.      It  reminds  us  of 


ii6     TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE  TO  CONTINUITY 

the  fact  that,  although  the  calculating  machine  of  Mr.  Bab- 
bage  ^  has  not  yet  been  fully  brought  to  a  practical  issue, 
nevertheless  the  number  of  highly  skilled  and  intelli- 
gent workmen  it  has  served  to  educate  is  well  known 
to  have  effected  a  very  sensible  improvement  in  the 
manufacture  of  instruments  of  most  delicate  research  : 
the  astronomer,  the  chemist,  the  student  in  physics,  are 
reaping  at  the  present  hour,  and  oftea  consciously,  the 
benefits  arising  from  the  experience  and  the  skill  which 
have  been  the  results  of  their  assisting  Mr.  Babbage  in 
his  efforts.  It  may  even  be  the  case  that  these  indirect 
and  collateral  results  have  conferred  upon  science  and  on 
human  intelligence  far  greater  benefits  than  any  that 
could  have  accrued  from  the  mere  completion  and 
applications  of  the  machine  itself 

Nor  is  the  influence  of  the  mechanical  applications 
of  the  metals  confined  alone  to  the  upper  and  more 
highly  educated  stratum  of  society,  or  to  the  intellectual 
faculties  of  the  inventors  themselves,  but  it  reaches  to 
that  other  and  far  more  numerous  body  whose  intelli- 
gence or  whose  emulation  is  stimulated  by  the  sight  of 
the  new  inventions.  The  presence  of  a  steam  plough 
or  a  steam  thrashing-machine  in  a  rural  district  quickens 
the  apprehensions  of  large  masses  of  the  population, 
whose  minds  would   otherwise   remain   at   the  level  of 

1  There  was  a  saying  very  prevalent  about  the  time  when  Mr. 
Babbage  had  just  completed  his  first  attempts  at  a  calculating  engine, 
which,  inasmuch  as  it  refers  to  a  general  and  comprehensive  principle, 
is  worth  handing  down  to  posterity.  Mr.  Babbage  ultimately  failed 
in  his  main  enterprise  ;  but  results  followed  even  greater  than  success. 
He  was  assisted  by  a  clever  mechanic  named  Clements,  and  Clements 
again  was  assisted  by  Whitworth.  It  was  a  saying  of  the  day  : 
"Babbage  made  Clements,  Clements  made  Whitworth,  and  Whit- 
worth made  the  Tools." 


OF  DIVINE   THOUGHT  FOR  MAN  117 

Stagnation.  A  new  implement  of  agriculture  excites  the 
curiosity  and  the  questionings  of  a  whole  parish.  The 
sight  of  a  steam  hammer  or  a  steam  crane  inevitably 
exalts  our  conception  of  the  power  of  man's  genius  over 
brute  and  apparently  unmanageable  matter.  The  sight 
of  an  electric  telegraph  reminds  even  the  villager,  of  the 
victory  of  genius  over  time  and  space. 

What  has  here  been  adduced  regarding  the  influence 
of  the  application  of  materials,  pre-existing  in  the  nebulous 
elements  of  the  world,  to  the  arts  of  life,  applies  just  as 
much  to  the  education  of  the  ancient  as  it  does  to  that 
of  the  modern  world.  Who  can  tell  what  mighty  in- 
fluences for  good  emanated  from  the  construction  of 
such  a  building  as  Milan  Cathedral,  or  the  Duomo  and 
its  Baptistery  at  Florence,  or  the  Parthenon  ?  Yet  the 
elements  from  which  these  magnificent  structures  were 
built,  pre-existed  in  the  ages  of  an  eternity ;  and  since 
then  they  passed  through  the  tissues  and  the  organisms 
of  creatures  enjoying  the  happiness  of  life,  long  before 
they  exercised  the  genius  of  the  architects  who  devised 
them  or  the  admiration  of  the  millions  who  have  beheld 
them. 

It  is  to  thoughts  and  results  not  distantly  related  to 
these  that  the  greatest  of  ancient  statesmen  alludes,  when 
he  counsels  his  audience,  the  Athenian  people,  to  take 
a  practical  survey  (e'/oyw  deuifxkvoi)  ^  of  the  glories  of  their 
city,  if  they  would  understand  by  what  sort  of  education 
their  ancestors  had  achieved  for  them  the  unequalled 
institutions  and  the  renown  of  their  polity.  Arnold 
never  wrote  truer  or  more  burning  words  than  in  his 
paraphrase  of  this  noble  passage  of  the  Greek  historian  : 

^  Thucyd.,  lib.  ii.  43. 


Ii8  DIVINE  THOUGHT  FOR  MAN 

"  Look  at  our  temples,  and  the  statues  which  embelHsh 
them ;  go  down  to  Pirseus,  observe  the  long  walls,  visit 
the  arsenals  and  the  docks  of  our  three  hundred  ships  : 
frequent  our  theatres,  and  appreciate  the  surpassing 
excellence  of  our  poets,  and  the  taste  and  splendour  of 
our  scenic  representations  ;  walk  through  the  markets, 
observe  them  filled  with  the  productions  of  every  part  of 
the  world ;  and  listen  to  the  sounds  of  so  many  dialects 
and  foreign  languages  which  strike  your  ears  in  the 
streets  of  our  city,  the  resort  of  the  whole  world.  So 
learn  to  know  and  to  value  the  fruits  of  civilisation,  the 
child  of  commerce  and  of  liberty."  But  I  stay,  for  the 
subject  is  inexhaustible. 


I 


IV 

MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  NATURAL 
RELIGION 

An  Address  read  before  the  Church  Congress  at  Brighton  in  1874 


Elegantissima  haecce  solis,  planetarum  et  cometarum  compages 
non  nisi  consilio  et  dominio  entis  intelligentis  et  potentis  oriri 
potuit  .  .  .  Hie  omnia  regit,  non  ut  anima  mundi  sed  ut  univer- 
sorum  dominus  .  .  .  Colimus  enim  ut  servi,  et  Deus  sine  dominio, 
providentia,  et  causis  finalibus  nihil  aliud  est  quam  fatum  et  natura. 
Tota  rerum  conditarum  pro  locis  ac  temporibus  diversitas  ab  ideis 
et  voluntate  entis  necessario  existentis  modo  oriri  potuit.  Dicitur 
autem  deus  per  allegoriam  videre,  audire  .  .  .  fabricare,  condere, 
construere.  Nam  sermo  omnis  de  deo  a  rebus  humanis  per  simili- 
tudinem  aliquam  desumitur,  non  perfectafn  quidem,  sed  aliqtialevi 
tamen, — Newton,  Scholium  Generale,  Prindpia. 

Qebs  ^duKeu  avrl  8^\tov  tov  Koafiov. — ChrysOSTOM. 

La  Nature  est  une  Image  de  la  Grace. — Pascal. 


MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  NATURAL 
RELIGION 

I  THINK  that  the  time  is  come  when  the  rela- 
tions between  science  and  reHgion  are  well  under- 
stood, and  may  be  clearly  stated.  In  the  present 
attempt  to  do  so,  the  trammels  of  the  twenty 
minutes  enforce  a  brevity  which  must  be  fatal  to 
completeness,  and  possibly  fatal  also  to  precision. 
Nevertheless,  I  have  done  what  I  could  under  the 
assurance  that,  whether  I  fail  or  otherwise,  neither 
the  interests  of  science  nor  those  of  religfion  can 
be  seriously  imperilled  at  the  hands  of  any  single 
writer. 

According,  then,  to  the  latest  and  most  authori- 
tative statement  of  the  new  philosophy,  it  is 
asserted  with  considerable  confidence  : 

I.  That  the  potential  of  all  things  terrestrial, 
including  man  with  all  his  powers,  intellectual  and 
moral,  the  potential  of  our  very  selves,  for  instance, 
in  this  assembly,  was  originally  contained  in  the 
atoms  of  one  of  those  nebulous  patches  of  light. 


122  MODERN  SCIENCE 

thousands  of  which  are  brought  within  the  ken  of 
the  modern  telescope.  How  this  potential  got 
there  is  not  stated. 

2.  That  the  present  state  of  things  has  been 
brought  about,  not  by  the  subsequent  intervention 
of  any  supreme  cause  or  governor  of  all  things, 
but  through  the  natural  interaction  of  these  atoms 
or  atomic  forces.  Combinations  and  recombina- 
tions throughout  unnumbered  ages  have  ensued, 
and  the  fittest  have  survived.  Of  living  organisms 
the  powers  have  descended  by  inheritance,  have 
then  been  modified  by  their  environments,  and 
again  the  fittest  have  survived.  This,  succinctly, 
is  said  to  be  the  origin  of  man  by  evolution. 

3.  It  is  asserted  that  throughout  Nature  there 
are  no  certain  tokens  of  design  ;  wonderful  adap- 
tations are  by  no  means  denied,  but  they  are 
referred  to  the  influence  of  successive  environ- 
ments and  Natural  Selection. 

4.  This  philosophy  asserts  that  if  there  be  an 
intelligent  Author  of  Nature,  an  Absolute 
Supreme,  He  is  to  us  unknowable. 

Such,  so  far  as  I  understand  it,  are  said  to  be 
the  legitimate  philosophical  conclusions  of  the 
most  complete  and  refined  science  of  the  day. 

If  this  be  the  ultimate  result  of  the  latest 
combinations  of  the  atoms,  and  if  this  be  all,  then, 
so  far  as  man  is  concerned,  this  ultimate  result  is 


AND  NATURAL  RELIGION  123 

human  life  without  an  adequate  motive,  affections 
with  no  object  sufficient  to  fill  them,  hopes  of  im- 
mortality never  to  be  realised,  aspirations  after 
God  and  godliness  never  to  be  attained :  thus 
myriads  of  myriads  of  other  nebulae  may  still  be 
the  potentials  of  delusion,  and  their  outcomes  the 
kingdom  of  despair. 

Now,  I  am  old-fashioned  enough  not  to  accept 
any  of  these  postulates  of  the  new  philosophy  in 
their  entirety ;  there  seems  to  be  just  a  sufficient 
substratum  of  truth  in  each  of  them  to  render 
them  specious,  and  to  some  minds  attractive  ;  but 
in  their  entirety  I  am  unable  to  accept  them  ;  not 
because  I  am  a  Christian,  but  because  I  am  a 
student  of  Nature.  I  know  of  no  more  illustrious 
names  in  the  annals  of  science  than  those  of 
Newton,  Herschel,  and  Faraday  (I  make  no  men- 
tion, as  I  could,  of  the  names  of  the  living),  and 
their  faith  in  an  intelligent  Author  and  Governor 
of  all  things  is  a  matter  of  history.  Mere 
authority,  I  well  know,  neither  has  nor  ought  to 
have  any  ultimate  weight  in  the  deductions  of 
science  ;  nevertheless,  the  mention  of  these  great 
names  seems  the  readiest  mode  of  reassuring 
an  assembly  such  as  this,  of  reassuring  them  from 
the  very  first,  after  the  enunciation  of  postulates 
which  could  not  fail  to  shock  the  ears  and  sadden 
the  hearts  of  Christian  men. 


124  MODERN  SCIENCE 

As  to  the  evolution  of  man,  not  so  much  from 
a  zoophyte  or  a  monkey,  as  rather  through 
zoophytes  from  the  interaction  of  the  atomic  forces 
in  a  nebula  ;  if  such  can  be  shown  to  be  the  order  of 
Nature,  that  is  to  say,  if  such  has  been  and  is  the 
will  of  Him  who  ordered  Nature,  I  bow,  and  have 
no  objection  to  make.  For  "  an  intelligent  Author 
of  Nature  being  supposed,  it  makes  no  alteration 
in  the  matter  before  us  ivkether  He  acts  iji  Nature 
every  moment,  or  at  once  contrived  and  executed 
his  own  part  in  the  plan  of  the  world."  These  are 
the  words  of  Bishop  Butler,  and  he  goes  still 
further  and  adds  in  words  of  a  burning  signifi- 
cance, "  If  civil  magistrates  could  make  the  sa^ictions 
of  their  laws  execute  themselves,  ive  should  be  just 
in  the  same  sense  tmder  their  government  then  as 
zue  are  noiv  ;  but  in  a  much  higher  degree  and  more 
perfect  manner.'^ 

If  creation  by  evolution  were  a  very  strongly 
presumable  fact,  I  should  logically  accept  it. 
With  my  own  hands  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  I 
obtained,  and  any  chemist  might  have  obtained, 
all  the  elements  which  I  found  in  an  ^gg  and  in 
grains  of  wheat,  out  of  a  piece  of  granite  and  from 
the  air  which  surrounded  it,  element  for  element. 
It  has  been  one  of  the  most  astonishing  and  un- 
expected results  of  modern  science  that  we  can 
unmistakably   trace   these   very  elements    also  in 


AND  NATURAL  RELIGION  125 

the  stars,  and  partly  also  in  the  nebulas  ;  perhaps 
all  of  them  when  our  instruments  are  improved. 
But  no  chemist,  with  all  his  wonderful  art,  has 
ever  yet  witnessed  the  evolution  of  a  living  thing 
from  these  lifeless  molecules  of  matter  and  force. 

From  what  I  know,  through  my  own  speciality, 
both  from  geometry  and  experiment,  of  the 
structure  of  lenses  and  the  human  eye,  I  do  not 
believe  that  any  amount  of  evolution,  extending 
through  any  amount  of  time  consistent  with  the 
requirements  of  our  astronomical  ^  knowledge, 
could  have  issued  in  the  production  of  that  most 
beautiful  and  complicated  instrument  the  human 
eye.  There  are  too  many  curved  surfaces,  too 
many  distances,  too  many  densities  of  the  media, 
each  essential  to  the  other,  too  great  a  facility  of 
ruin  by  slight  disarrangement,  to  admit  of  any- 
thing short  of  the  intervention  of  an  intelligent 
Will  at  some  stage  of  the  evolutionary  process.- 

The   most  perfect,  and  at  the  same  time  the 

^  On  this  subject  I  trust  I  may  be  permitted  to  refer  to  Note  A 
appended  to  my  Hulsean  Lectures  for  1867  (Deighton,  Bell,  and 
Co.)     See  also  p.  138,  note. 

2  It  makes  no  difference  to  the  force  of  this  argument  whether 
the  intervention  of  the  Will  took  place  at  the  creation  of  the  atoms 
or  at  a  subsequent  stage.  The  former  hypothesis,  viz.  that  of  an 
original  self-adaptive  power  impressed  upon  the  molecules 
(assemblages  of  atoms)  at  the  time  of  their  creation,  only  enhances 
the  power  and  wisdom  of  the  Creator.  This  is  in  the  spirit  of 
Butler's  observation,  already  quoted,  relative  to  the  execution  of  laws 
by  the77iselves.  The  "manufactured  articles"  of  Sir  John  Herschel 
would,  on  this  hypothesis,  be  more  highly  manufactured  still. 


126  MODERN  SCIENCE 

most  difficult  optical  contrivance  known,  is  the 
powerful  achromatic  object-glass  of  a  microscope  : 
its  structure  is  the  long  unhoped-for  result  of 
the  ingenuity  of  many  powerful  minds  ;  yet  in 
complexity  and  in  perfection  it  falls  infinitely 
below  the  structure  of  the  eye.  Disarrange  any 
one  of  the  curvatures  of  the  many  surfaces,  or  dis- 
tances, or  densities  of  the  latter  ;  or  worse,  dis- 
arrange its  incomprehensible  self-adaptive  power, 
the  like  of  which  is  possessed  by  the  handiwork 
of  nothing  human,  and  all  the  opticians  in  the 
world  could  not  tell  you  what  is  the  correlative 
alteration  necessary  to  repair  it,  and  still  less,  to  im- 
prove it  as  natural  selection  is  presumed  to  imply.^ 
But  I  do  not  rest  my  objections  to  the  theory 
of  the  universal  prevalence  of  creation  by  natural 
selection  without  some  intervention  of  an  external 
intelligent  Will,  solely  on  any  special  knowledge  of 
the  structure  of  the  human  eye.  Above  and 
beyond  all  other  similar  arguments,  and  there  are 
many  such,  Mr.  Wallace,  who  has  an  equal  claim 
with  Mr.  Darwin  to  the  origination  of  the  theory 

1  Dr.  Helmholtz  advances  an  argument  on  the  other  side.  I 
quote  it  only  to  show  some  results  of  the  new  Philosophy.  He 
says  :  "  Now  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  if  an  optician  wanted  to  sell 
me  an  instrument  which  had  all  these  defects  [of  the  human  eye], 
I  should  think  myself  quite  justified  in  blaming  his  carelessness  in 
the  strongest  terms,  and  giving  him  back  his  instrument."  (!)  I  can 
only  express  astonishment,  entire  dissent,  and  the  deepest  regret  at 
the  language. 


AND  NATURAL  RELIGION  127 

of  evolution,  Mr.  Wallace  has  made  an  express 
exception  in  the  case  of  man.  For  the  creation 
of  man  as  he  is,  he  postulates  the  necessity  of  the 
intervention  of  an  external  Will,  and  I  commend 
his  essay  to  your  special  attention.  Among  other 
arguments  he  observes  that  the  lowest  types  of 
savages  are  in  possession  of  a  brain  and  of  capaci- 
ties far  beyond  any  use  to  which  they  can  apply 
them  in  their  present  condition,  and  therefore  they 
could  not  ^  have  been  evolved  from  the  mere  neces- 
sities of  their  environm.ents.  Prolepsis,  anticipation, 
I  may  add,  involves  intention  and  a  will.  For  my 
own  part,  I  would  carry  Mr.  Wallace's  remark  upon 
savages  much  further,  and  apply  it  to  ourselves. 
We,  too,  possess  powers  and  capacities  im- 
measurably beyond  the  necessities  of  any  merely 
transitory  life.  There  stir  within  us  yearnings 
irrepressible,  longings  unutterable,  a  curiosity 
unsatisfied  and  insatiable  by  aught  we  see.      These 

^  An  able  University  colleague  and  Professor  somewhat  objects 
to  this  argument,  because  the  power  of  anticipation  might  have 
been  originally  impressed  upon  the  molecules.  This  is  conceivable, 
and,  if  really  the  case,  would  be  a  still  more  wonderful  instance 
of  a  more  highly  wrought  manufacture  of  the  atoms.  But  the 
contention  of  Mr.  Darwin's  Theory  of  Evolution  seems  to  be,  that 
the  alteration  or  development  of  an  organism  is  brought  about 
solely  by  the  environment,  and  is  up  to  the  extent  only  of  the 
demands  of  the  environment  itself  and  at  the  time  :  in  other  words, 
the  Forces  of  Natural  Selection  are  not  anticipative.  In  the 
beginning  ot  Nature  this  theory  supposes  no  '■'pre-established 
harmony y  See  Mr.  Wallace's  Contributions  to  the  Theory  of  Nfattiral 
Selection  (Macmillan,  1870). 


128  MODERN  SCIENCE 

appetites,  passions,  and  affections  come  to  us,  not 
as  Socrates  and  Plato  ^  supposed,  nor  as  our  own 
great  poet  sings,  from  the  dim  recollection  of  some 
former  state  of  our  being,'-^  still  less  from  the 
delusive  inheritance  of  our  progenitors  ;  they  are 
the  indications  of  something  within  us,  akin  to 
something  immeasurably  beyond  us,  tokens  of 
something  attainable  yet  not  hitherto  attained  ; 
signs  of  a  potential  fellowship  with  spirits  nobler 
and  more  glorious  than  our  own  ;  they  are  the 
title-deeds  of  our  presumptive  heirship  to  some 
brighter  world  than  any  that  has  yet  been  formed 
among  the  starry  spangles  of  the  skies. 

"  Whether  we  be  young  or  old, 
Our  destiny,  our  being's  heart  and  home, 
Is  with  infinity,  and  only  there  ; 
With  hope  it  is,  hope  that  can  never  die, 
Effort,  and  expectation  and  desire. 
And  something  evermore  about  to  be." 

But  our  knowledge  of  these  atomic  forces,  so 
far  as  it  at  present  extends,  does  not  leave  us  in 
serious  doubt  as  to  their  origin  ;  for  there  is  a  very 
strong    presumptive    evidence    drawn     from     the 

1  See  Plato's  Me7io. 

2  See   Wordsworth's   ode  on   Intimations   of  Mortality,  stanza 

"  Our  birth  is  but  a  sleep  and  a  forgetting  : 
The  Soul  that  rises  with  us,  our  life's  Star, 
Hath  had  elsewhere  its  setting, 
And  Cometh  from  afar." 


AND  NATURAL  RELIGION  129 

results  of  the  most  modern  scientific  investigation 
that  they  are  neither  eternal  nor  the  products  of 
evolution.  No  philosopher  of  recent  times  was 
better  acquainted  than  Sir  J.  Herschel  with  the 
interior  mechanism  of  Nature.  From  his  contem- 
plation of  the  remarkably  constant,  definite,  and 
restricted,  yet  various  and  powerful  interactions  of 
these  elementary  molecules,  he  was  forced  to  the 
conviction  that  they  possessed  "  all  the  character- 
istics of  manufactured  articles^  The  expression  is 
memorable,  accurate,  and  graphic  ;  it  may  become 
one  of  the  everlasting  possessions  of  mankind. 
Professor  Maxwell,  a  man  whose  mind  has  been 
trained  by  the  mental  discipline  of  the  same  noble 
university,  arrives  at  the  same  conclusion  ;  but  as 
his  knowledge  has  exceeded  that  of  Herschel  on  this 
point,  so  he  goes  further  in  the  same  direction  of 
thought.  "  No  theory  of  evolution,"  he  says,  "  can  be 
formed  to  account  for  the  similarity  of  the  molecules 
throughout  all  time,  and  throughout  the  whole 
region  of  the  stellar  universe,  for  evolution  neces- 
sarily implies  continuous  change,  and  the  molecule 
is  incapable  of  growth  or  decay,  of  generation  or 
destruction." — "  None  of  the  processes  of  Nature, 
since  the  time  when  Nature  began,  have  produced 
the  slightest  difference  in  the  properties  of  any 
molecule.  On  the  other  hand,  the  exact  equality 
of  each   molecule  to  all  others  of  the  same  kind 

K 


130  MODERN  SCIENCE 

precludes  the  idea  of  its  being  eternal  and  self- 
existent  We  have  reached  the  utmost  limit  of 
our  thinking  faculties  when  we  have  admitted  that 
because  matter  cannot  be  eternal  and  self-existent 
it  must  have  been  created."  "  These  molecules,"  he 
adds,  "  continue  this  day  as  they  were  created, 
perfect  in  number,  and  measure,  and  weight,  and 
from  the  ineffaceable  characters  impressed  on 
them  we  may  learn  that  those  aspirations  after 
truth  in  statement  and  justice  in  action,  which  we 
reckon  among  our  noblest  attributes  as  men,  are 
ours  because  they  are  the  essential  constituents 
of  the  image  of  Him  who  in  the  beginning 
created  not  only  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  but  the 
materials  of  which  heaven  and  earth  consist." 
And  this,  my  friends,  this  is  the  true  outcome  of 
the  deepest,  the  most  exact,  and  the  most  recent 
science  of  our  age.  A  grander  utterance  has  not 
come  from  the  mind  of  a  philosopher  since  the 
days  when  Newton  concluded  his  Principia  by  his 
immortal  scJwlhnn  on  the  majestic  personality  of 
the  Creator  and  Lord  of  the  universe. 

I  now  come  to  the  question  of  design  in  Nature. 
Our  new  philosophy  admits  that  throughout  Nature 
there  are  found  innumerable  instances  of  wonderful 
adaptations  ;  but  it  asserts  that  these  adaptations 
are  the  necessary,  the  inevitable  results  of  the  new 
environments,    the    mere   fact    of   the   permanent 


AND  NATURAL  RELIGION  131 

survival  of  a  modified  organism  being  in  itself  a 
clear  intimation  that  it  is  the  fittest  modification 
that  has  survived,  and  that  some  new  and  effective 
adaptation  has  been  established.  It  is  not  stated 
whence  came  the  singular  capacities  of  the  mole- 
cules for  assuming  their  new  arrangements  ;  nor 
is  it  explained  how  it  comes  about,  that  the  per- 
manent survivals  follow  (on  the  whole)  the  direc- 
tion of  improvement.  But  it  is  stated  that  Mr. 
Darwin,  whose  mind  is  said  to  have  been  *'  the 
most  deeply  stored  with  the  choicest  materials  of 
the  teleologist,  rejects  teleology,  seeking  to  refer 
these  wonders  to  natural  causes."  This  is  high  au- 
thority, though  in  science,  as  I  have  said,  authority 
weighs  but  little.  On  the  other  hand,  I  know  for 
certain  that  so  strong  were  the  convictions  of  Sir 
John  Herschel  in  the  very  contrary  direction,  that 
one  of  his  last  acts,  very  shortly  before  his  removal 
from  among  us,  was  to  busy  himself  about  a  MS.  col- 
lection of  all  the  passages  in  his  own  writings  where 
he  had  referred  to  the  tokens  of  an  intelligent  Will 
in  Nature.^  We  have  also  heard  the  testimony  of  the 
greatest  molecular  physicist  now  living  among  us. 
If,  then,  the  question  of  design  were  to  be  settled  by 
the  weight  of  philosophical  authority,  the  Christian 
has  nothing  to  fear.    But  in  questions  such  as  this, 

1  One  of  the  most  striking  of  these,  quotations  from  Sir  John 
Herschel's  writings,  will  be  found  as  a  motto  on  page  144,  Essay  V. 


132 


MODERN  SCIENCE 


wherein,  and  from  whatever  causes,  the  philoso- 
phers are  said  to  differ,  I  should  prefer  to  appeal 
to  the  common  and  average  sense  of  mankind. 

I  know  of  no  greater  intellectual  treat — I 
might  even  call  it  moral — than  to  take  Mr. 
Darwin's  most  charming  work  on  the  Fertilisation 
of  Orchids,  and  his  equally  charming  and  acute 
monograph  on  the  Lythrums,  and  repeat,  as  I 
have  repeated,  many  of  the  experiments  and 
observations  therein  detailed.  The  effect  on  my 
mind  was  an  irresistible  impulse  to  uncover  and 
bow  my  head,  as  being  in  the  immediate  presence 
of  the  wonderful  prescience  and  benevolent  con- 
trivance of  the  Universal  Father.  And  I  think 
such,  also,  would  be  the  result  on  the  convictions 
and  the  emotions  of  the  vast  majority  of  average^ 
men.  I  think  their  verdict  would  be,  that  no 
plainer  marks  of  a  contriving  Will  exist  in  a  steam- 
engine,  or  a  printing-press,  or  a  telescope — I  am 
not  speaking  of  the  whole  end,  scope,  and  intention 
of  that  Divine  Will,  I  am  only  speaking  of  the 
marks  of  its  existence  ;  the  rest  we  know  not  yet 

1  A  few  years  ago  a  celebrated  cause  was  tried  at  Edinburgh  ; 
the  question  being  whether  a  certain  mineral  was  coal  or  not  coal. 
Several  of  the  ablest  geologists  and  microscopists  of  the  day  were 
called  on  both  sides.  The  one  set  deposed  that  the  mineral  was  not 
coal  at  all ;  the  other,  that  it  was  coal  of  the  very  best  description. 
The  perplexed  judge  was  compelled  to  throw  aside  all  the  scientific 
evidence  and  to  rely  on  the  judgment  of  an  average  workman  of  in- 
telligence.    Of  course  the  mineral  was  coal. 


AND  NATURAL  RELIGION  133 

Or  again,  recurring  to  our  ultimate  molecules. 
The  great  modern  advance  of  human  knowledge, 
and  especially  the  wonderful  applications  of  this 
knowledge  to  the  purposes  of  the  arts  of  life, 
have  arisen  very  much  from  the  existence  of  iron, 
and  coal,  and  sulphur,  and  platina,  and  silica  upon 
our  planet.  Now  tell  me,  what  were  the  anterior 
chances,  prior  to  the  existence  of  Nature,  that 
when  a  being  like  man  came,  after  the  lapse 
of  ages,  upon  our  earth,  he  would  have  found 
stored  up  for  him,  and  for  his  development  in  the 
scale  of  being,  iron,  and  coal,  and  sulphur,  and 
platina,  and  silica?  To  tell  me  that  the  co- 
existence of  all  these  essentially  independent 
existences  might  be  the  result  of  anything 
short  of  the  intention  of  a  prescient  Will,  the 
evidences  of  a  '' pre-establisJied  .  Jiaj'inony''  would 
be  equivalent  to  telling  me  that,  after  placing 
sufficient  letters  of  the  alphabet  into  a  box,  there 
might  be  dredged  out  of  it  the  dialogues  of 
Plato,  the  dramas  of  Shakespeare,  and  the  Prin- 
cipia  of  Newton. 

But  now  comes  the  inevitable  question,  which 
all  along  may  have  been  perplexing  your  minds, 
as  I  confess  it  once  greatly  perplexed  my  own. 
How  is  it  that  men,  endowed  with  nearly  equal 
capacities,  and  possessing  nearly  equal  opportuni- 
ties, should   draw  such   different,  not  to  say  such 


134  MODERN  SCIENCE 

opposite,  conclusions  on  subjects  which  in  import- 
ance transcend  all  others,  and  beyond  all  others 
tax  the  reason  to  the  utmost,  and  touch  the 
emotions  to  the  quick  ? 

I  think  that  one  cause  of  this  contrariety  of 
conviction  lies  in  the  nature  of  the  evidences  for 
Christianity,  in  the  natural  evidences  for  the  being 
of  a  Supreme,  and  for  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul. 
These  evidences,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
cannot  be  mathematical,  or  demonstrative,  or 
scientific  ;  they  belong  rather  to  that  class  of 
evidence  which  we  call  probable  ;  to  that  class,  be 
it  observed,  upon  which  alone  we  determine  the 
conduct  of  our  lives  ;  for,  "  to  us  probability  is 
the  guide  of  life."  And  although  these  probable 
evidences  range  greatly  in  degree,  and  although 
not  any  one  of  them,  taken  alone  and  by  itself, 
may  be  sufficient  to  command  entire  consent  and 
enforce  an  absolute  conviction,  nevertheless,  when 
taken  altogether,  they  may — they  often  do — by 
their  consilience  from  many  different  and  indepen- 
dent sources,  furnish  the  mind  with  the  highest 
moral  certainty  of  which  it  is  capable.  This  we 
claim  to  be  especially  the  case  with  Christianity  ; 
and  in  arguing  the  case,  this  consilience  ought 
never  to  be  forgotten,  for  it  is  by  laying  too  great 
stress  upon  one  or  two  of  these  presumptive 
evidences    alone,    and    especially    in    conversation, 


AND  NATURAL  RELIGION  135 

or  in  the  rapid  reading  of  a  literary  article,  that 
many  a  mind  has  been  robbed  of  its  peace.  "  For 
it  is  easy  to  show,"  says  Bishop  Butler,-^  "  in  a 
short  and  lively  manner  that  such  and  such  things 
are  liable  to  objection,  that  this  and  another  thing 
is  of  little  weight  in  itself ;  but  impossible  to  show 
in  like  manner  {i.e.  in  a  short  and  lively  manner) 
the  united  force  of  the  whole  argument  in  one 
view." 

Now  it  is  especially  in  this  region  of  probable 
evidence  that  the  bias  of  the  will  comes  in  to  warp 
the  judgment.  The  bias  of  early  education,  the 
still  greater  bias  of  a  later  discipline  of  the  in- 
tellectual and  moral  faculties,  the  bias  of  the 
environment  and  of  party  spirit,  the  bias,  we  are 
told,  even  of  a  strong  or  of  a  morbid  mood.^ 
Thus,  by  the  excessive  or  exclusive  cultivation  of 
any  one  side  of  our  complex  nature,  intellect- 
ual or  ethical,  the  mind  becomes  one -handled 
— lop-sided.  This  is  the  inevitable  Nemesis  of 
Dispropoi'tion. 

In  like  manner,  the  exclusive  or  excessive 
addiction  to  mathematical  studies  has  a  tendency 
to  render  the  mind  averse  to,  or  distrustful  of, 
arguments  which  are  not  demonstrative  ;  excessive 
addiction  to  physiology  may  superinduce  an  undue 

^  Analogy^  ch.  vii.  part  ii. 

2  Tyndall's  Preface  to  his  Address  to   the  British  Association, 
1874. 


136  MODERN  SCIENCE 

reliance  on  the  effects  of  the  "  rhythmic  vibrations 
of  the  brain,"  or  on  unquestionably  mechanical 
actions  of  the  nervous  system  ;  experimental  phil- 
osophy suggests  the  arguments  of  measure  and 
weight,  and  has  been  found  to  match  vaccination 
against  prayer.  On  the  other  hand,  the  theo- 
logian is  very  liable  to  a  strong  bias  in  favour  of 
authority,  and  to  circumscribe  his  views  to  the 
conditions  of  a  world  not  yet  realised.  All  these 
tendencies,unless  consciously  and  carefully  watched, 
do,  and  of  necessity  must,  warp  the  judgment,  and 
render  it  more  or  less  incapable  of  a  just  and  im- 
partial decision.  This  or  that  line  of  probable  evi- 
dence, when  presented  to  its  consideration,  is  unduly 
cast  aside  ;  the  threads  of  the  evidence  are  rudely 
snapped  one  after  the  other,  and  the  consilient 
network  of  the  whole  argument  is  overlooked. 

It  is  in  the  modern  tendency  to  specialism  of 
pursuit  that  the  greatest  danger  is  to  be  feared  in 
regard  to  the  philosophical  arguments  against 
Christianity  ;  for  the  evidences  of  Christianity  are 
not  special,  but  varied  and  co-extensive  with  the 
whole  nature  of  man  and  his  environments. 
Hence  it  would  be  well  for  the  philosopher  to  take 
into  the  laboratory  of  his  intellect  such  old- 
fashioned  authors  as  Butler  and  Paley  and  Cole- 
ridge,^ and  honestly  test  in  his  personal  experience 

^  There   is   in   my  opinion   no  book   in   our   language  on   the 


AND  NATURAL  RELIGION  137 

the  faith  which  he  begins  to  doubt,  before  he  finally 
rejects  it.  Better  still  would  it  be  if,  in  the  study 
of  every  manse  throughout  England,  there  were 
found  a  well-used  microscope,  and  on  the  lawn  a 
tolerable  telescope  ;  and  best  of  all,  if  those  who 
possess  influence  in  our  national  universities  could 
see  their  way  to  the  enforcement  of  a  small  modi- 
cum of  the  practical  knowledge  of  common  things 
on  the  minds  of  those  who  are  to  go  forth  and  do 
battle  with  the  ignorance  and  the  failings  of  our 
population,  and  to  spread  light  throughout  the  land. 
A  little  knowledge  of  the  four  ancient  elements, 
fire,  air,  earth,  and  water,  would  save  many  a  young 
clergyman  from  the  vanity  of  ridiculous  extremes, 
and  from  the  surprise  of  the  more  wisely  and 
widely  educated  among  his  flock.  For,  depend 
upon  it,  whatever  may  be  our  suspicions  or  our 
fears,  the  pursuit  of  the  knowledge  of  the  works 
of  Nature  will  increase,  and  increase  with  an 
accelerated  velocity  ;  and  if  our  clergy  decline  to 
keep  pace  with  it,  and  to  direct  it  into  wholesome 
channels,  they  and   their  flocks  will   be  overtaken, 

fundamentals  of  the  Christian  Faith  better  suited  to  a  patient  and 
thoughtful  mind  than  Coleridge's  Aids  to  Reflection.  The  late 
venerated  Bishop  Sumner,  at  one  time,  used  to  recommend  Aphor- 
ism xix,  on  Redemption,  to  the  notice  of  his  candidates  for  Ordina- 
tion. With  reference  to  Christianity,  Coleridge  says:  "Try  it. 
It  has  been  eighteen  hundred  years  in  existence  :  and  has  one  indi- 
vidual, in  whose  words  you  could  place  full  confidence,  left  a  record 
like  the  following  ?— I  tried  it,  and  it  did  not  answer.  .  .  .  "— 
Aphorism  vii. 


138  MODERN  SCIENCE 

though  from  opposite  directions,  by  what  I  have 
ventured  to  call  the  inevitable  Nemesis  of  Dispro- 
portion. 

I,  for  one,  believe,  not  so  much  in  the  right  as 
in  the  duty  of  every  man  to  make  the  best  of  the 
faculties  wherewith  his  Maker  has  entrusted  him  ; 
and  I  meet  with  a  grateful  and  a  hopeful  thought 
all  those  unexpected  accessions  to  our  knowledge 
of  God  in  Nature  which  in  recent  times  have  come 
to  us  in  almost  overwhelming  abundance.  There 
is  no  need  to  be  frightened  at  the  phantoms  raised 
by  such  terms  as  matter,  and  force,  and  molecules, 
and  protoplasmic  energy,  and  rhythmic  vibrations 
of  the  brain  ;  there  are  no  real  terrors  in  a  phil- 
osophy which  affirms  the  conceivability  that  two 
and  two  might  possibly  make  five,  or  in  that 
which  predicates  that  an  infinite  number  of  straight 
lines  constitute  a  finite  surface,  or  in  that  which 
denies  all  evidence  of  design  in  Nature,  or  in  that 
which  assimilates  the  motives  which  induce  a 
parent  to  support  his  offspring,  to  the  pleasures 
derived  from  wine  and  music,  or  in  that  which 
boldly  asserts  the  unknowableness  of  the  Supreme 
and  the  vanity  of  prayer.  Surely  philosophies 
which  involve  such  results  can  have  no  per- 
manent grasp  on  human  nature :  they  are  in 
themselves  suicidal,^  and   in   their  turn,  and    after 

1  Mr.   Mivart's  word    is    '■^  interiiecine'' ;    Dr.   M.    Arnold's    is 


AND  NATURAL  RELIGION  139 

their  brief  day,  will,  like  other  such  philosophies, 
be  refuted  or  denied  by  the  next  comer,  and 
are  doomed  to  accomplish  the  happy  des- 
patch. 

Meanwhile  we  have  the  means  of  at  least  par- 
tially summarising  the  results  of  modern  discovery 
on  the  interpretation  of  the  revelation  of  God's 
Will  contained  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  The  dis- 
coveries of  Copernicus,  Galileo,  and  Kepler  taught 
the  Christian  Church  that  the  language  of  the 
Bible  was  to  be  understood  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  ordinary  language  of  men,  and  was  not  to 
be  strained  into  an  adamantine  literalness.  The 
subsequent  discoveries  of  geology  have  carried  a 
similar  lesson  still  further,  and  we  may  safely  con- 
clude that  in  the  earlier  chapters  of  Genesis  the 
great  Father  of  Mankind  is  teaching  His  children 
as  children,  and  only  up  to  the  measure  of  their 
capacities  and  their  needs  at  and  about  the  time 
of  the  Revelation.  At  the  same  time,  we  find  that 
He  has  endowed  them  with  powers  and  capacities, 

^''dismal.''''  See  Cojitempora^y  Review,  October  1874,  pp.  776  and 
818.  With  reference  to  the  unlimited  time  demanded  by  the  Theory 
of  Evolution,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  if  the  resultant  of  the  forces 
of  evolution  acting  continually  but  accidentally  on  an  organism,  be 
expressed  as  a  definite  integral,  with  the  time  from  the  creation  as 
independent  variable,  and  the  superior  limit  1874  a.d.,  is  it  not 
conceivable  that  the  result  should,  as  is  the  case  with  many  such 
integrals,  be  either  nothing  or  a  small  quantity  ?  This  seems  to  me 
to  be  worth  consideration,  as  a  possible  source  of  the  fallacy  in  the 
unlimited  application  of  the  doctrine  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 


140  MODERN  SCIENCE 

each  and  all  of  which  they  are  bound  to  develop, 
and  thereby  to  learn  more  and  more  of  His  will  in 
Nature.  Lastly,  the  course  of  scientific  discovery 
has  led  to  the  certainty  that  the  universe  at  large, 
our  own  physical  frames,  and  our  mental  and 
moral  constitution,  are  arranged  on  a  much  more 
mechanical  principle  than  had  hitherto  been  con- 
ceived. The  Christian  student  and  the  philo- 
sophical divine  will  be  wise  to  expect  a  still  further 
development  of  knowledge  in  the  same  direction. 
On  the  other  side,  we  have  at  length  been  brought, 
by  philosophical  conclusions,  from  the  most  ad- 
vanced scientific  knowledge  of  the  day  to  the 
philosophical  certainty  that  matter  is  not  eternal, 
but  that  from  the  beginning  of  Nature  it  was 
endued  with  very  wonderful  properties  by  some 
Intelligent  Will.  This  is  the  latest  and  the 
grandest  Revelation  of  Nature.  Here  we  may 
safely  stop. 

For  my  own  part,  a  lifetime  passed  in  the  pur- 
suit and  the  communication  of  natural  knowledge, 
so  far  from  effacing  or  obscuring  the  faith  in  which 
I  was  brought  up,  has  served  to  deepen  and  to 
render  more  intelligent  the  conviction  that  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  properly  interpreted,  are  to  us 
the  Word  of  God  ;  that  the  great  Father  of  all 
has  rendered  himself  knowable  to  mankind  by 
the  manifestation  of  Christ,  and  that  in  this  know- 


AND  NATURAL  RELIGION  141 

ledge  consists  their  highest  life ;  that  He  has  re- 
deemed them  by  the  atonement  of  His  Son,  and 
illuminates  and  strengthens  all  who  come  to  Him 
by  His  Spirit. 


V 

ASPECTS   OF  NATURE  IN  RELATION 
TO  MIRACLES   AND   PROVIDENCE 


An  Address  read  by  request  before  the  Church  Congress  at 
Swansea  in  1879. 


"There  is,  in  the  present  age,  a  certain  fearlessness  with  regard 
to  what  may  be  under  the  government  of  God,  which  nothing  but 
an  universally  acknowledged  demonstration  on  the  side  of  Atheism 
can  justify  :  and  which  makes  it  necessary  that  men  be  made  to 
feel  that  there  is  no  sort  of  ground  for  being  thus  presumptuous, 
even  on  the  most  sceptical  principles." — Butler,  Atialogy,  ch.  ii. 
pt.  i. 

"  Will  without  motive,  power  without  design,  thought  opposed 
to  reason,  would  be  admirable  in  explaining  a  chaos,  but  would 
render  little  aid  in  accounting  for  anything  else." — Sir  J.  Herschel. 


ASPECTS   OF  NATURE   IN   RELATION 
TO  MIRACLES  AND  PROVIDENCE. 

A  FEW  weeks  ago  it  was  my  lot  to  meet  an  old 
friend  who  for  many  years  had  been  lost  sight  of 
Our  conversation  soon  turned  to  the  subject  which 
is  so  often  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  thoughtful 
men,  viz.  as  to  how  it  had  fared  with  him  in  these 
days  of  religious  conflict.  He  had  been  much 
troubled,  he  said,  by  those  endless  contrarieties  of 
religious  belief,  and  doubt,  and  dogma,  which  on 
this  side  and  on  that  he  had  heard  propounded. 
Knowing  how  brief  our  conference  must  necessarily 
be,  I  at  once  addressed  myself  to  what  I  regarded 
as  the  pith  and  the  root  of  the  matter,  and  I  sug- 
gested that,  apart  from  the  statements  in  the  New 
Testament,  there  could  be  no  permanent  and  solid 
ground  for  the  hopes  and  consolations  and 
religious  convictions  of  the  Christian.  As  for  the 
interpretation  thereof,  I  added,  the  Gospels  and  the 
Epistles  were  originally  addressed  to  plain  men, 
endowed  with  ordinary  capacities,  and  engaged  in 

L 


146       ASPECTS  OF  NATURE  IN  RELATION  TO 

ordinary  avocations,  and  in  the  interpretation  of 
the  sacred  documents  they  were,  and  we  are,  re- 
sponsible to  the  Giver  for  the  proper  use  of  the 
gifts  we  have  received.  True,  said  he,  but  there 
seem  to  be  grave  difficulties  anterior  to  and 
underlying  the  narratives  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 
Here  I  paused  for  a  moment,  and  he  added,  I 
refer  for  instance  to  the  alleged  impossibility  of 
Miracles,  and  to  the  many  arrangements  in 
Nature  which  appear  to  militate  against  the  power 
or  the  benevolence  of  its  Author.  I  rejoined,  you 
are  now  opening  a  wide  question,  and  one 
that  cannot  be  effectually  discussed  where  we 
stand.  Your  train  awaits  you,  and  I  have  only 
time  to  say  that  these  subjects  have  naturally 
exercised  my  own  mind  also  for  many  years,  and 
the  result  is  that  I,  for  one,  entertain  as  strong  a 
conviction  of  the  substantial  veracity  of  the  Gospel 
Histories  as  I  do  of  the  Newtonian  theory  of 
Gravitation  ;  and  I  am  not  more  staggered  at  the 
wonderful  things  recorded  in  the  Life  of  Christ, 
than  I  am  at  what  I  read  in  the  skies  themselves 
of  the  constitution  and  the  motions  of  the  stars. 
I  know  not  what  may  have  been  the  effect  of 
these  eirea  TrrepoevTa,  these  winged  words,  upon 
my  friend's  mind,  but  they  at  once  suggested  to  me 
the  matter  and  the  form  of  my  x^ddress  to  your- 
selves to-day.      Possibly  I   may  thereby  afford  to 


MIRACLES  AND  PROVIDENCE  147 

some  of  my  brethren  who  are  battling  with  the 
doubts  and  errors  so  rife  in  the  world  new  phases 
of  thought  ;  and  these  new  and  helpful  thoughts 
they  may,  in  their  turn,  bring  to  bear  on  the 
intellectual  and  moral  trials  of  others  who  may 
consult  them  in  their  spiritual  needs  ;  and  thus 
the  fruits  of  the  seed  now  cast  upon  the  waters 
may  be  reaped  after  many  days :   who  can  tell  ? 

Si  quid  ego  adjuvero  curamve  levasso 
Ecquid  erit  pretii  ! 

I  shall  ask  you  then,  in  this  behalf  and  in  the  first 
instance,  to  consider  with  me  The  Vastness  of 
Nature :  a  vastness  both  with  regard  to  variety 
and  to  extent :  to  our  finite  conceptions  a  vast- 
ness illimitable,  infinite.  And  the  reason  why  I 
invite  you  to  the  consideration  of  this  phase  of 
Nature  lies  in  the  conviction  that  it  will  remove 
from  some  minds,  as  it  certainly  has  from  my  own, 
all  a  priori  or  anterior  objections  to  the  Miracles 
of  the  New  Testament,  drawn  from  the  suspicion 
that  they  are  contrary  to  the  Laws  of  Nature.  I 
think  I  shall  be  able  to  convince  you  that,  what- 
ever else  these  Miracles  may  be,  we  have  no  valid 
reason  for  regarding  them  in  this  light,  that  is, 
either  as  Contradictions  or  even  as  Suspensions  ; 
on  the  contrary,  they  may,  after  all,  be  only  neces- 
sary instances  of  the  orderly  course  of  Nature  itself ; 
Nature,  I   mean,  regarded  as  a  Wpiole.      This 


148       ASPECTS  OF  NATURE  IN  RELATION  TO 

branch  of  the  subject  being  dismissed,  I  propose  to 
consider  certain  other  parts  of  Nature  in  their 
Prophetic  or  Anticipative  Aspects:  thereby  vin- 
dicating, I  think,  the  parental  or  providential 
character  of  many  natural  dispositions  of  things  in 
the  midst  of  which  we  have  our  being. 

Turn  your  thoughts  then,  for  a  few  moments, 
to  the  Starry  Heavens,  as  nightly  disclosed  to  the 
Astronomer's  gaze  by  those  gigantic  telescopes 
and  their  appliances,  which  are  among  the  chief 
wonders  of  modern  inventive  skill.  In  certain 
portions  of  the  heavens  more  stars  pass  each 
minute  across  the  small  visible  field  of  the  instru- 
ment than  you  or  I  have  ever  distinctly  seen,  with 
unaided  vision,  shining  over  the  whole  concave 
surface  of  the  sky  ;  I  say  nothing  of  the  incal- 
culable distances  of  each  from  each,  or  of  each 
from  our  Earth.^  Yet  modern  research  has  taught 
us,  as  you  know,  that  each  of  these  innumerable 
lights  is  a  sun,  similar  in  its  constitution  to  our 
own  ;  nay,  often  a  combination  of  two  companion 
suns,  each  revolving  round  each  other,  and  each 
revolving,  beyond  all  question,  after  the  order  of 
the  same  Keplerian  laws  which  regulate  our  own. 
Moreover,  there    can    be   no  doubt  that  close    to 

1  Mr.  Roberts  has  recently  (1888)  photographed  more  than  30,000 
stars  on  one  small  plate  less  than  four  square  inches,  placed  in  the 
focus  of  his  telescope.  Ptolemy  at  Alexandria  did  not  count  more 
than  1200  in  the  whole  sky,  with  the  naked  eye. 


MIRACLES  AND  PROVIDENCE  149 

each  of  these  companion  suns  there  revolves  a 
system  of  planetary  worlds,  nestling  within  the 
protective  influence  of  the  dominant  attraction. 
Further  still,  and  what  interests  us  most,  is  the 
fact  that  our  planetary  system  and  our  own 
sun  are  themselves  mere  units  in  this  vast  asso- 
ciated group  of  revolving  orbs.  Yet  this  incalcul- 
able array  of  associated  systems  of  worlds  is  not  a 
Chaos  but  a  Kosmos :  a  Kosmos  replete  with 
order,  and  beauty,  and  law.  The  sublimity  of 
its  beauty  is  familiar  to  us  all;  and  labour  and 
ingenuity  have  gradually  disclosed  some  portions 
of  its  orderly  arrangements.  Strange  to  say,  it  is 
owing  to  these  orderly  arrangements,  and  to  them 
alone,  that  we  are  enabled  to  guide  our  ships  in 
safety  across  the  ocean  ;  by  these  alone  we  lay 
and  we  recover  our  Atlantic  cables,  we  map  out 
our  continents,  we  measure  our  globe  with  match- 
less accuracy,  and  we  regulate  the  calendar  of  our 
seasons.  But  as  for  the  whole  scope,  the  final 
intention  of  this  illimitable  scheme,  the  why  and 
the  whither  of  this  stupendous  prodigality  of 
creation,  we  are  utterly  and  hopelessly  ignorant. 
The  Christian,  indeed,  will  say  that  these  bright 
innumerable  existences  read  to  him  a  sublime 
lesson  as  to  what  He,  the  Author  of  this  tran- 
scendent magnificence,  must  be,  who  nevertheless 
condescends  to  call  Himself  his  Father,  and  sheds 


I50       ASPECTS  OF  NATURE  IN  RELATION  TO 

abroad  within  the  Christian's  spirit  the  joy  un- 
speakable and  the  ineffable  dignity  of  the  filial 
relation.      But  let  that  pass. 

And  now,  not  in  contrast,  still  less  not  in 
derisive  contrast,  turn  your  thoughts  to  that  little 
sand-glass  which  necessarily  limits,  and  may  be 
paralyses,  the  due  accomplishment  of  my  present 
task.  The  sand  therein  you  know  is  the  debris  of 
ancient  continents,  existing  ages  upon  ages  ago 
upon  this  our  globe,  and  teeming  with  life  and 
happiness  and  beauty  long  anterior  to  the  advent 
of  man.  The  why  and  the  whither  of  this 
amazing  prodigality  of  duration  as  much  baffle 
and  evade  us  as  do  the  number  of  the  stars.  And 
next  think  of  the  two  distinct  materials  which  in 
the  main  constitute  the  glass,  that  curious  en- 
velope which  contains  the  sand.  Of  one  of  these 
materials  every  particle,  strange  to  say,  ages  and 
ages  ago  passed  through  the  organic  tissues  of 
microscopic  creatures,  and  then  became  elabor- 
ated as  flint  for  the  ultimate  service  of  man  : 
elaborated  by  living  creatures  enjoying  no  doubt 
a  pleasurable  existence  in  those  ancient  waters. 
Nor  is  this  all,  for  the  other  material  of  the  glass 
formed  an  essential  element  in  the  life  and  growth 
of  the  beautiful  flora  which  adorned  the  primeval 
shores.  But  as  to  the  ultimate  why  and  the  final 
whither  of  all  this  sublime  machinery,  this  vast 


MIRACLES  AND  PROVIDENCE  151 

prodigality  of  resource,  this  interminable  variety  of 
Nature,  they  astonish,  baffle,  and  evade  us. 
But  it  is  not  so  much  the  sand,  or  the  glass  con- 
taining it,  to  which  I  desire  to  draw  your  attention  ; 
but  it  is  rather  to  something  else  within  the  glass, 
viz.  the  atmospheric  gaseous  substances,  which, 
though  invisible  to  our  eyes,  are  to  my  mind  far 
more  marvellous,  and  in  one  sense  far  more 
stupendous,  than  all  the  incalculable  numbers  and 
the  subtle  arrangements  observable  in  the  starry 
heavens.  For  modern  science  has  revealed  to  us 
the  existence,  within  that  glass,  of  myriads  of 
myriads  of  myriads  of  gaseous  entities — the  mind 
becomes  stupefied  in  reckoning  up  their  numbers — 
which,  moving  amongst  each  other  with  veloci- 
ties measurable  by  no  terrestrial  standards,  but 
approaching  rather  the  velocities  of  the  planets, 
and  dashing  against  each  other  and  against  the 
sides  of  the  glass,  produce,  by  their  orderly  con- 
flicts, all  those  varied  effects  which  we  classify 
under  the  names  of  atmospheric  pressure,  heat,  and 
light,  and  electricity  !  Moreover,  each  one  of  these 
innumerable  atoms  has  its  own  distinctive  and 
characteristic  weight,  infinitesimal  though  it  be. 
Each,  from  all  primeval  time,  has  been  endued 
with  its  own  unalterable  individuality,  its  definite 
likes  and  dislikes,  and  its  own  associative  energies. 
Such  is  the  wondrous  constitution,  revealed  to  us 


152        ASPECTS  OF  NATURE  IN  RELATION  TO 

by  the  ingenious  diligence  of  modern  research, 
of  the  aeriform  substances  constituting  the  at- 
mosphere within  that  glass  :  the  atmosphere,  in 
fact,  in  which  we  breathe.  The  mind  becomes 
half-humiliated  and  half-paralysed  at  the  con- 
templation, and  even  that  most  accomplished 
mathematician,  my  colleague  from  the  sister  uni- 
versity, who  will  soon  address  you,  must  find  his 
powers  sorely  exercised  in  the  disentanglement  of 
these  complicated  flights  and  collisions  of  these 
atoms. 

But  now  add  to  those  stupendous  hosts  which 
adorn  the  skies,  and  to  these  myriad  atoms  thus 
curiously  endowed — add,  I  say,  all  the  existences 
that  lie  between  and  around  them  ;  add  to  them 
that  bright  mysterious  thing  called  Life,  and 
specially  human  life  ;  Man,  with  all  his  godlike 
endowments  of  the  understanding  ;  Man,  with  all 
his  appetites,  passions,  and  affections,  and  "  all  that 
stirs  this  mortal  frame  " ; — and  then,  summing  up 
the  whole,  what  have  you  arrived  at,  at  last,  in  all 
this  interminable  array  of  things  and  thoughts? 
Simply  this  :  you  have  Nature  ;  Nature,  which 
is  only  another  name  for  the  sum  of  all  created 
things  ;  all  that  exist,  or  have  existed,  or  ever 
will  exist.  You  have  indeed  a  Scheme,  a  System, 
a  Constitution  of  things,  in  which,  though  the 
several  parts  manifestly  cohere  and  interact  with 


MIR  A  CLES  AND  PRO  VIDENCE  1 5  3 

an  astonishing  connection,  nevertheless  it  is  a 
Scheme  in  which  "  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  give 
the  whole  account  of  even  any  one  single  thing 
whatever;"  "the  whole  account,  that  is,  of  all  its 
causes,  ends,  and  necessary  adjuncts — adjuncts,  I 
mean,  without  which  it  could  not  have  been." 

We  speak  indeed  of  the  LAWS  OF  NATURE  : 
but  very  essential  it  is  that  we  analyse  the  meaning 
of  the  terms.  We  find  that  certain  circumstances, 
certain  collocations  of  matter,  for  instance,  or  of  the 
planets,  recur  again  and  again,  and  then  we  find 
that  certain  other  consequences  invariably  ensue, 
and  so  far  as  such  and  similar  collocations  of  matter 
are  concerned,  we  rightly  conclude  that  we  have 
at  length  discovered  the  plan,  the  law,  the  natural 
scheme,  after  which  this  matter,  or  those  planets, 
or  those  collocations  or  environments,  are  so  far 
constituted.  And  this  we  call  a  Law  of  Nature  : 
a  law  expressing  so  far,  and  so  far  only,  the  Will, 
the  scheme,  of  the  Author  of  Nature.  But  of  how 
few  instances  of  things,  and  of  how  infinitesimal  a 
part  of  Nature  have  we  discovered  such  laws. 
You  may  count  them  on  the  fingers  of  your 
hands.  There  are  the  Laws  of  Motion,  for 
instance.  Some  of  these  we  do  know,  for 
Galileo  and  Newton  discovered  them  and  taught 
them.  And  Joule,  in  more  recent  times,  taught 
us  the  convertibility  of  motion  into  other  forms  of 


154       ASPECTS  OF  NATURE  IN  RELATION  TO 

energy.  And  Young  and  Fresnel  taught  us  a 
little  of  the  nature  and  laws  of  Light.  And 
Faraday  gave  us  some  notion  of  the  mode  of 
action  of  Electricity.  And  Herschel  pierced 
through  a  rift  or  two  of  the  veil  which  interposes 
between  us  and  the  starry  vault.  But  you  have 
now  traversed  the  realms  of  certainty  and  of 
known  Natural  Law  ;  and  as  for  the  rest  of 
things,  the  Law  {i.e.  the  Scheme  of  tJie  things)  is 
displaced  by  presumptive  evidence,  and  probability 
alone  becomes  the  guide  of  Life. 

"  Now,  in  this  darkness,  or  this  light,  of  Nature, 
call  it  which  you  will,"  tell  me,  if  it  pleased  the 
Author  of  Nature  to  send  to  us  His  children  a 
revelation  of  things  in  which  we  are  most  deeply 
concerned,  but  regarding  which  the  visible  parts 
of  Nature  could  give  us  no  information  ;  if  in  this 
behalf  there  appeared  upon  this  earth  one  who 
assumed  to  be  a  messenger  from  heaven,  and  to 
know  the  secrets  of  the  Most  High  ;  if  he  claimed 
for  himself  a  divine  original,  and  exhibited  in  his 
conduct  moral  excellences  and  a  moral  intelligence 
far  beyond  any  that  we  conceive  attainable  by  the 
children  of  men  ;  if  he  taught  and  lived  as  none 
other  being  ever  taught  and  lived  before  or  since  ; 
and  if  in  the  course  of  his  ministry  this  Unique 
Being,  appearing  under  this  unique  environment, 
claimed  and  was  said  and  seen  to  exhibit  power 


MIR  A  CLES  AND  FRO  VIDENCE  1 5  5 

over  the  diseases  of  the  body  and  over  the  ele- 
ments of  Nature,  nay,  over  life  and  death  ;  could 
you,  I  ask,  tindej'  these  tmique  circumstances^  and 
considering  what  the  scheme  of  Nature  has  been 
shown  to  be,  viz.  to  us  illimitable  and  unknown  ; 
could  you,  with  any  show  of  reason,  reject  the 
narrative,  simply  under  the  plea  that  it  was  con- 
trary to  the  Lazvs  of  Nature  ? 

It  is  not,  then,  any  known  contrariety  to  the 
laws  of  material  Nature  which,  to  our  finite  appre- 
hensions, affects  the  a  priori  credibility  of  miracles. 
On  the  contrary,  the  question  regarding  miracles 
is  relegated  to  the  credibility  of  human  testimony. 
The  true  question  is,  Did  the  alleged  occurrences 
really  occur  ?  And  the  case  is  even  stronger  than 
this,  when  referred  to  Nature  in  her  immaterial 
phase.  For  the  wonderful  works  of  the  Unique 
Being  are  attributed  to  the  force  of  His  Word,  and 
the  energy  of  His  Will  :  and  who  knows  anything 
of  the  relations  of  the  Will  of  such  a  Being  to  the 
motions  of  material  atoms  ?  Thus  the  question 
is  again  removed  to  the  credibility  of  the  witnesses 
— and  there  it  lies  outside  the  scope  of  the  present 
argument. 

Such  then  is  an  outline — (our  time  and  the 
occasion  admit  no  more) — such,  I  say,  is  a  mere 
rapid  sketch  of  the  grounds  on  which  I  regard  the 
Miracles  of  Christ  as  removed  from  all   questions 


156       ASPECTS  OF  NATURE  IN  RELATION  TO 

regarding  the  Laws  of  Nature  with  which  we  have 
acquaintance.  The  occasions  on  which  these 
wonders  took  place  were  utterly  unique  in  the 
world's  history.  The  great  Being  who  performed 
them  was  unique  among  the  children  of  men,  and 
the  objects  and  His  Mission  were  unique  :  what 
wonder  then  if  the  works  of  His  life  were  equally 
unique  ?  In  a  word,  the  whole  environment 
belongs  to  a  part  of  Nature  hitherto  undisclosed, 
and  the  Laws  which  govern  it  were  at  the  time, 
and  still  are,  unknown.  Under  this  aspect  what- 
ever occurred  might  be,  or  must  be,  essentially 
miraculous,  part,  that  is,  of  the  general  Scheme  of 
Nature,  but  nevertheless  a  part  of  it  hitherto  not 
by  us  experienced. 

Finally,  add  to  the  consideration  of  the  mere 
presence  of  this  unique  Being  and  of  His  Mission 
among  us,  add  the  consideration  of  the  power  of 
His  Will.  The  power  of  the  human  will,  nay, 
the  power  of  all  animal  will,  is  as  great  as  it  is 
mysterious.  By  it  we  every  moment  introduce  a 
force,  a  natural  force,  which  overcomes  gravitation 
in  the  motion  of  our  limbs  :  we  control  the  wills 
and  the  actions  of  other  men  ;  we  "  overcome 
kingdoms."  The  Christ  of  the  Gospels  said  that 
His  Will  was  the  Will  of  Him  that  sent  Him. 
Are  there  any  limits  to  the  power  of  that  Will, 
other  than  the  limits  of  Beneficence  and  Wisdom  ? 


MIRACLES  AND  PROVIDENCE  157 

What  wonder  then  that  at  a  word  of  His,  the 
word  that  expressed  His  Will,  other  and  to  us 
strange  forces  come  into  action,  and  so  "  the 
blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk,  the 
lepers  are  cleansed  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are 
raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  the  glad  tidings 
preached  to  them." 

I  proceed  reluctantly  to  the  last  topic  of  my 
address  to  you  to-day.  And  even  this  I  am 
constrained  to  dismiss  with  a  brevity  and  a  sen- 
tentiousness  which  must  fall  far  short  of  the  thing 
I  aim  at.  I  refer  to  the  Prophetic  or  Anticipative 
Character  of  certain  arrangements  in  the  course  of 
Nature.  In  my  mind  they  give  rise  to  an  admira- 
tion and  an  astonishment  inferior  only  to  those 
produced  by  the  contemplation  of  the  Miracles 
of  Christ. 

Consider  then,  for  a  moment,  in  what  are  con- 
stituted, and  by  what  means  are  developed,  the 
arts,  the  conveniences,  the  embellishments  of  social 
life.  What,  for  instance,  would  this  English 
life  of  ours  be,  in  the  absence  of  coal,  and  clay, 
and  iron,  and  glass.  Even  the  absence  of  sulphur, 
— God  forbid  that  I  should  here  be  thinking  of 
miserable,  though  necessary  war, — but  the  absence 
of  even  sulphur,  as  a  material  element  in  sulphuric 
acid,  would  make  an  absolute  revolution  in  the 
useful  and  pleasant  varieties  of  our  daily  existence. 


158       ASPECTS  OF  NATURE  IN  RELATION  TO 

Regard  also  for  a  moment  railways,  and  telegraphs, 
and  telescopes,  and  spectroscopes,  in  the  mere 
light,  though  that  is  an  important  light,  of  their 
exciting  the  curiosity  and  developing  the  intel- 
ligence of  the  great  masses  of  our  population.  Go 
back  in  thought  to  the  distant  times  of  our  lake- 
dwellers,  and  to  those  still  more  ancient  cheerless 
men  whose  chief  mechanical  implements  consisted 
of  wedges  of  flint,  and  then  let  me  ask  you  what 
is  the  source  from  whence  we  derive  those  materials 
which  have  been,  and,  as  I  contend,  must  have  been, 
fore-ordained  to  be  a  chief  means  of  our  advance- 
ment in  the  arts  of  life,  and  of  the  discipline  of  our 
intellectual  powers.  We  know  that  it  is  from  the 
dark  recesses  of  the  solid  earth  alone  that,  with 
curious,  obstinate  industry,  we  dig  and  delve  those 
crude  materials  which,  in  the  course  of  their  skilful 
manipulation,  tax  and  inform  and  strengthen  the 
inventive  faculties  ;  and,  in  their  subsequent  appli- 
ance to  the  conveniences  of  life,  develop  and  en- 
hance the  social  relations  and  the  active  charities 
of  daily  existence.  Thus  the  earth,  by  the  bounty 
of  her  providence,  becomes  to  us  the  fruitful  parent 
of  a  double  Jpon.  And  now  that  you  have  before 
your  minds  this  wondrous  correlation  of  the  consti- 
tuents of  our  complex  globe  to  the  still  more  wonder- 
ful being  in  due  time  to  be  placed  upon  it,  so  that  he 
may  subdue  it  to  the  purposes  of  his  own  moral  and 


MIRACLES  AND  PROVIDENCE  159 

intellectual  elevation  —  to  the  purposes,  I  say,  of 
his  gradual  development  upwards  and  onwards 
towards  the  Supreme ;  I  say,  holding  this  wondrous 
correlation  of  human  capacities  with  material  things 
clear  and  full  before  the  vision  of  your  minds, 
turn  the  gaze  of  your  thoughts  towards  the 
nebulous  masses  in  the  far-off  sky,  now  in  process 
of  condensation,  of  evolution  if  you  will,  into  new 
suns  and  new  worlds,  to  be  constituted  in  their 
turn  after  the  fashion  of  our  own.  In  these 
mysterious  fiery  clouds  the  instructed  gaze  of 
science  already  discerns  the  nitrogen  of  future 
atmospheres,  the  hydrogen  of  future  oceans,  the 
carbon  of  a  future  vegetation,  and,  it  may  be,  the 
sure  traces  of  the  iron  that  is  destined  to  quicken 
the  inventive  genius  of  beings  who  are  to  be  the 
denizens  of  worlds  yet  unformed.  Magnificent 
prolepsis  !  The  skies  of  the  ages  long  past  must 
in  like  manner  have  once  proclaimed  the  ultimate 
advent  of  the  same  beneficent  arrangements  in 
preparation  for  ourselves.  For  those  ancient  skies 
contained  the  "  promise  and  the  potency,"  the  far- 
off  prophecy  of  the  advent  of  beings  who,  in  the 
slow  but  secure  progress  of  the  rolling  ages,  would 
sing  of  the  glory,  and  be  warmed  and  invigorated 
by  the  parental  love  of  the  Lord  of  the  universe. 


VI 

SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH 

CONSIDERED   IN  RELATION  TO  THE 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  KNOWLEDGE 

OF  NATURE 

An  Address  read  to  the  Church  Congress  at  Dublin 


M 


SCEPTICISM    AND    FAITH 

In  the  biography  of  the  poet  Thomas  Moore 
there  is  the  record  of  a  conversation  between 
himself  and  the  philosopher  Schlegel,  in  which 
the  latter  puts  the  following  question  :  "  If  a  man 
conscientiously  and  without  any  intentional  levity 
were  to  publish  a  book  in  England  expressive  of 
his  disbelief  in  the  Scriptures,  and  giving  the 
reasons  of  his  disbelief,  how  would  such  a  book 
be  received  ?  "  To  this  question  the  poet  replied, 
"  As  to  the  book,  I  don't  know  ;  but  I  know  how 
the  man  would  be  received,  and  I  should  not  like 
to  be  in  his  place."  And  this  is  probably  a  fair 
representation  of  English  public  opinion  among 
the  educated  classes  of  the  last  generation.  But 
how  changed  is  the  sentiment  of  the  present  hour. 
I  believe  that  I  betray  no  secret,  but  am  referring 
rather  to  a  notorious  fact,  in  the  establishment  of 
a  society  of  gentlemen,  counting  among  its 
members    high    dignitaries    in    the    English    and 


1 64  SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH 

Roman  churches,  and  others  equal  to  them  in 
rank  and  influence  and  moral  worth,  who  periodic- 
ally sit  side  by  side  with  the  most  prominent 
and  advanced  sceptical  writers  of  the  day  ; 
calmly,  and  without  anger,  or  the  expression  of 
surprise,  discussing  questions  which  a  very  few 
years  ago  would  have  been  regarded  as  dangerous 
to  public  morals,  if  not  socially  disreputable.  No 
doubt  these  philosophic,  and  for  the  most  part 
highly  cultured  gentlemen  are  anxious  to  hear  the 
best  and  the  worst  that  can  be  said  of  the 
foundations  of  their  respective  faiths  :  and,  in  such 
respects,  to  be  forewarned  is  to  be  forearmed.  But 
the  fact  of  the  association  still  remains  ;  and  what 
is  of  far  more  importance,  the  question  still  remains 
as  to  the  origin  and  the  significance  of  this  unex- 
ampled mutual  tolerance  of  antagonistic  opinions  on 
matters  which  affect  the  closest  and  dearest  of  human 
hopes,  and  the  strongest  motives  of  human  actions. 
Moreover,  we  ourselves  are  all  of  us  cognisant 
of  another  fact,  parallel  to  the  former  and  of 
cognate  significance,  whatever  that  significance  may 
be.  The  periodical  literature  of  the  day  bristles 
with  discussions  and  attacks  on  our  orthodox 
creeds,  which  a  few  years  ago  would  have  been 
resented  as  inconsistent  with  the  secure  existence 
of  society  ;  nevertheless  this  literature  lies  in  pro- 
fusion  on   the   tables  of  our  clubs   and   drawing- 


I 


SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH  165 

rooms,  accessible  alike  to  old  and  young,  to  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  our  families,  and  to  the  visitors 
within  our  houses,  unrebuked  and  unrestrained. 

What  then  does  this  remarkable  revulsion  in 
the  public  sentiment  imply  or  portend  ?  Is  it 
symptomatic  of  a  widely  diffused  and  growing  in- 
difference ?  Is  it  significant  of  ignorance  as  to  the 
serious  bearings  of  the  points  at  issue  ?  Does  it 
originate  in  curiosity,  or  is  it  a  happy  consequence 
of  the  innate  love  of  Englishmen  for  fair  play  ? 
Is  it  in  any  degree  the  Nemesis  on  some  ex- 
travagance of  dogmatic  assertion  in  the  theology 
of  years  that  are  gone  by — the  Nemesis,  that  is, 
of  exaggeration  and  disproportion  ?  Or,  lastly,  is 
this  discussion  and  unwonted  tolerance  of  an- 
tagonistic opinions  a  fashion  of  the  day,  ephemeral 
and  unreasoning  ? 

Musing,  though  not  without  anxiety,  as  most 
thoughtful  men  are  wont  to  muse,  on  this 
anomalous  state  of  the  public  sentiment,  two 
observations  not  alien  to  the  subject  before  us 
have  occurred  to  my  mind,  which  in  my  hearing 
fell  from  the  lips  of  that  eminently  honest  and 
most  accomplished  philosopher,  the  late  Sir  John 
Herschel.  "  What  a  strange  thing,"  said  he,  "  is 
public  opinion  in  England  :  it  will  put  up  almost 
anything  :  and  if  it  finds  in  the  long  run  that  it 
won't  do,  it  will  quietly  pjU  it  downr      On  another 


1 66  SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH 

occasion,  when  this  gifted  man  was  observed  to  be 
in  a  state  of  considerable  mental  disquietude  (it 
was  in  the  earlier  days  of  table-turning),  upon 
being  asked  what  it  was  that  troubled  him,  he 
replied,  "  Well  !  to  think  that,  after  all  that  has 
been  done  and  written  on  the  subject,  men  have 
so  little  faith  in  the  laws  of  motion  ! " 

Now,  I  for  one  am  inclined  to  think  that 
Society,  public  opinion,  has  for  the  moment  "  put 
up  "  Scepticism  :  that  is  to  say,  dropping  the 
thin  veil  of  the  euphemistic  disguise,  it  has  "put 
up  "  a  new  form  of  practical  Atheism,  making  its 
advocates  fashionable,  and  setting  them  in  high 
places  ;  but  it  may  be  that,  so  soon  as  it  is  felt 
that  the  questions  at  issue  are  not  confined  to 
protoplasm,  and  the  nebular  hypothesis,  and 
natural  selection  ;  so  soon  as  it  is  clearly  seen 
that  these  questions  touch  the  deepest  and  most 
fondly  cherished  emotions  of  the  human  heart, 
and  actuate  the  springs  and  motives  of  practical 
life — then  I  think  that  Society,  public  opinion, 
will  put  down  this  moral  dynamite,  and  remove 
this  dangerous  explosive  from  the  neighbour- 
hood of  our  families  ;  but  not,  alas  !  before  many 
a  fine  mind  has  been  involved  in  darkness  and 
desolation.      Christianity  is  not  yet  annihilated. 

And,  in  no  remote  analogy  with  the  other 
remark    of  the   same  philosopher,  I    also  believe 


SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH  167 

that  SO  soon  as  Society,  so  soon  as  any  individual 
member  thereof,  becomes  truly  cognisant  of  the 
laws  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  of  his  Christ ;  so 
soon  as  he  becomes  personally  and  in  his  heart 
imbued  with  the  Christian  faith,  and  versed  ex- 
perimentally in  the  dynamics  of  the  Christian  life 
— he  will,  by  sure  and  happy  intuition,  by 
spiritual  insight,  at  once  reject  the  ideological 
table-turning  of  the  new  philosophies.  For  you\ 
cannot  by  such  philosophies,  you  cannot  by  anyi 
amount  of  materialistic  palmistry,  obliterate  the  ; 
life -long  experience  of  a  man's  affections,  and  \ 
persuade  him  that  the  peace,  the  love,  the  joy,  the 
moral  strength  that  have  possessed  him,  and  have 
ripened  into  act,  are  the  mere  collocations  of 
molecules  and  evolutions  of  his  own  consciousness. 
If  he  knows  anything,  he  knows  that  from  within 
they  have  actuated  his  outer  life,  impelling 
it  towards  all  that  is  reputed  best  and  noblest 
among  men,  with  a  power  far  beyond  any  that  he 
could  call  naturally  his  own.  You  cannot 
obstupefy  such  a  man  by  the  jugglery  of  a 
mathematical  puzzle,  telling  him  that  all  know- 
ledge is  uncertain,  and  that  no  man  can  be  sure 
that,  under  some  conditions,  two  and  two  may 
not  be  five.  To  such  an  one,  thus  endued  with  a 
spiritual  insight,  thus  panoplied  in  the  faith  of  the 
world  to  come,  you  may  as  well  offer  a  stone  or  a 


i68  SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH 

piece  of  chalk  in  return  for  the  bread  of  his  inner 
life  as  try  to  persuade  him  (and  here  I  quote  from 
the  written  oracles  of  the  new  religion) — as  try  to 
persuade  him  "  that  the  noblest  and  most  human 
emotion  is  worship  (for  the  most  part  of  the  silent 
sort)  at  the  altar  of  the  Unknown  and  Un- 
knowable ! "  Such  a  man  will  hardly  stop  to 
unravel  the  enigma  of  these  strange  words  ;  they 
will  rather  roll  back  his  thoughts  for  two  thousand 
years,  and  they  will  recall  to  him  the  vision  of  an 
aged  man  walking  along  the  streets  of  Athens, 
hard  by  an  historic  altar  nigh  to  the  Areopagus  ; 
and  in  spirit  he  will  thence  follow  the  grand 
apostle  to  the  dungeon  and  sword  of  Nero  ;  in  spirit 
hearing  and  in  his  own  experience  responding 
to  the  words  "  I  know,  I  knoiv  whom  I  have  trusted, 
and  I  am  persuaded  that  He  is  able  to  guard  that 
which  I  have  committed  to  His  keeping." 

Further,  the  two  terms  which  most  accurately 
describe  very  much  of — I  was  going  to  call  it  the 
new  philosophies,  but  in  fact  they  are  but  a 
recJiauffe  of  the  old — these  two  terms,  I  say,  viz. 
Atheism  and  Scepticism,  are  just  the  very  terms 
which  the  authors  and  advocates  of  the  new-old 
philosophies  are  most  careful  to  reject  or  to 
explain  away.  As  to  Atheism,  probably  few  or 
none  of  us  have  ever  met  with  a  man  who  avozved 
himself  an  atheist.      Non-theism  or  Antitheism   is 


SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH  169 

not  SO  unacceptable.  I  stop  not  now  to  ask  the 
source  of  the  repugnance,  or  to  analyse  the  generic 
difference  of  the  terms. 

And  as  to  the  other  term,  Scepticism,  it  is 
very  instructive  to  observe  the  ingenuity  of  the 
attempts  to  remove  the  social  sting  from  the 
word.  The  most  recent  suggestion  is  that  the 
true  sceptics  are  those  who  reject  the  new-old 
philosophy  :  theism,  they  tell  us,  is  the  true  scep- 
ticism :   be  it  so  :   "  things  are  what  they  are." 

But  what  is  still  more  remarkable  is  the  new 
dogma  that  the  Sceptical  Spirit  is  the  one  actual 
source  of  all  progress  in  knowledge.  In  a  well- 
known  "  lay  sermon  "  (oh,  shade  of  Coleridge  for 
the  term  !)  I  read  that  "  Natural  Knowledge,"  or  as 
it  had  perhaps  better  be  called,  Nature-Know- 
ledge, "  is  in  fact  the  only  real  knowledge  " ;  and 
that  every  great  advance  in  this  natural  know- 
ledge has  involved  "  the  cherishing  of  the  keenest 
scepticism."  Now  I  do  most  emphatically  deny, 
on  ethical  and  historical  grounds,  that  the  progress 
of  mankind  in  any  one  branch  of  knowledge  or  of 
morality,  has  been  furthered  by  a  sceptical  spirit.  I 
affirm  that  all  true  knowledge  of  every  kind  has  been 
born  of  FAITH,  and  has  been  nurtured  by  patience 
and  hope.  Scepticism  is  not  the  joyful  mother  of 
children  :  she  is  barren.  Restlessness  is  her  step- 
mother, hopelessness  and  misery  dwell  in  her  abode. 


170  SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH 

It  was  not  in  scepticism,  but  in  faith,  that 
Galileo  persevered  till  he  wrested  from  Nature  her 
secret  of  the  Laws  of  Motion.  It  was  not  in 
scepticism,  but  in  faith,  that  Kepler  toiled  and 
failed,  failed  and  toiled,  till  he  discovered  the  laws 
which  he  felt  assured  the  Lord  and  Governor  of  the 
universe  had  impressed  on  the  orbits  of  the  planets. 

Not  in  scepticism,  but  in  faith,  the  elder  Her- 
schel  hour  after  hour  walked  his  weary  but 
observant  rounds,  fed  by  a  sister's  hands,  and 
stopping  not  till  he  had  finished  his  mirrors,  not 
doubting  they  would  in  due  time  unfold  to  him 
the  construction  of  the  material  heavens.  And  in 
a  like  spirit  of  a  loving  confidence  his  gifted  son 
banished  himself  to  the  far  South,  till  he  had 
finished  the  work  which  his  father  had  begun,  and 
for  all  ages  wrote  "  ccbHs  exploratis "  upon  the 
escutcheon  of  their  fame. 

Not  in  scepticism,  but  in  a  spirit  of  faith, 
Dalton  and  Davy  and  Faraday  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  that  astonishing  advance  in  the  domain  of 
physics  which  we  inherit  in  the  arts,  the  con- 
veniences, the  embellishments,  the  intelligence  of 
our  daily  lives. 

But  that  which  most  astonishes  me  in  this  bold 
assertion  of  VICTORY  THROUGH  DoUBT  is  that  it 
was  made  while  the  example  of  the  saintly  Faraday 
was  still   within  living   memory.      No   man   con- 


SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH  171 

tributed  more  than  he  to  the  advance  of  human 
knowledge,  but  Faraday  worked  on,  not  because  he 
doubted,  but  because  his  mind  was  full  of  the  ardour 
of  faith.  Faith  that  Nature  was  established  in 
Law  ;  faith  specially  in  Him  who  gave  the  Law. 
And  I  know  few  episodes  in  the  annals  of  science 
more  touching  than  what  was  communicated  to  me 
by  a  deacon  in  the  Church  of  simple-minded  Chris- 
tianity, to  whom  Faraday  ministered  the  truths  of 
Christ,  according  to  the  light  in  which  he  had 
learned  to  apprehend  them.  It  was  in  Dundee,  to- 
wards the  close  of  his  life,  when  his  overtaxed 
brain  and  his  memory  began  to  fail  him,  he 
opened  the  Bible,  and  began  his  address  to  the 
poor  and  simple  Christians  to  whom  he  was  a 
deacon  ;  but  he  soon  stopped,  and  in  tones  the 
memory  of  which  still  linger  for  good  on  the  ears 
of  some  of  us,  he  begged  his  audience  to  forgive 
him  if  his  quotations  from  the  Scriptures  were 
sometimes  not  exact.  "  My  friends,"  said  he,  "  you 
know  it  w^as  not  always  so,"  and,  my  informant 
added,  his  face  shone  as  an  angel's. 

The  sum  of  the  whole  matter  is  this  :  the  great 
Father  of  the  universe  has  ordained  that  in  Nature, 
as  in  Grace,  the  victory  of  the  children  of  light  shall 
be,  not  by  keen  scepticism,  but  by  a  loving  Faith. 

If,  however,  for  the  words  '*  keen  scepticism,"  as 
the  one  source  of  the  advancement  of  all   know- 


172  SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH 

ledge,  we  could  write  "fair  trial,"  or  "honest 
experiment,"  or  "personal  research,"  then  these 
philosophies  and  the  New  Testament  would,  so 
far,  be  at  one.  "  Seek  and  ye  shall  find,"  is  as 
applicable  to  the  operations  of  Nature  as  it  is  to 
the  promises  of  Grace.  Nay,  further,  we  affirm 
that  the  true  prevailing  cause  of  the  rejection  of 
the  faith  of  Christ  is  that  it  has  7iot  been 
personally  tried.  It  is  like  the  rejection  of 
gravitation  by  a  mind  refusing  to  submit  to 
mathematical  culture.  Those  burning  and  eternal 
words,  "  Come  unto  me,"  challenge  a  trial  at  the 
hands  of  all  the  weary  ones,  all  the  restless  ones, 
all  the  bereaved  ones  in  this  troublesome  though 
beautiful  world.  The  light  that  shines  from 
Bethlehem  and  Calvary  and  Olivet  claims  for  its 
prerogative  that  it  will  illuminate  all  the  dark 
passages,  and  mitigate  if  not  remove  all  the  dreary 
perplexities  of  this  mortal  life.  Nay,  more  than 
that,  it  promises  to  supply  a  motive  and  an 
inner  strength  leading  to  the  development  of  the 
human  spirit  into  its  perfection,  and  to  satisfy 
its  illimitable  aspirations. 

But  the  failing  sand  warns  me  to  conclude  ;  and 
it  shall  be  with  another  episode  in  that  practical 
life  which  is  referred  to  in  the  subject  title  of  my 
address. 

It  has  come  to  my  knowledge  and  to  that  of 


SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH  173 

Others,  that,  not  very  long  ago,  a  preacher  in  the 
course  of  his  office  was  addressing  the  members  of 
an  ancient  university  on  that  security  of  Know- 
ledge of  the  Divine  Grace  which  comes  from  the 
experience  of  a  life -long  trial.  It  is  said  that 
the  preacher  himself  desponded — not  wisely 
perhaps — of  the  result  on  the  minds  of  the 
cultured  audience  to  whom  it  was  his  duty  to 
appeal.  But  in  the  course  of  the  evening  there 
was  put  into  his  hand  a  letter  couched  in  the 
following  terms  :  "  A  Manchester  man,  steeped  to 
the  neck  in  cotton,  from  sheer  curiosity  strayed 
this  afternoon  into  St.  Mary's  church.  He  was  in 
great  mental  distress  at  the  time,  and  all  things 
seemed  to  him  as  a  blank,  but  he  there  heard 
words  of  comfort  which  he  takes  as  a  voice  from 
the  Heavenly  Father,  and  they  will  remain  in  his 
memory  as  a  strength  to  the  end  of  his  life." 
The  "  keenest  scepticism  "  will  not  restore  a  man 
to  his  better  self,  who  is  steeped  in  cotton,  or 
despondency,  or  sin. 

L'Envoi. 

Religious  men  are  apt  to  lay  very  much  of 
the  Atheism  of  the  present  day  to  the  charge 
of  scientific  men.  It  may  conduce  to  a  more 
accurate  apprehension  of  the  fact,  whatever  the 
value  of  the  fact  may  be,  if  it  be  understood  that 


174  SCEPTICISM  AND  FAITH 

not  one  among  the  scientific  professors  at  either 
of  our  two  ancient  universities  has  written  or 
taught  antagonistically  to  the  Christian  Faith. 
And  I  believe  the  same  assertion  may  be 
made  in  relation  to  their  eminent  colleagues  in 
Scotland  and  Ireland. 

But  the  truth  is,  the  exact  sciences  do  not  so 
much  as  even  toiicJi  on  the  question  of  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  or  on  the  existence  of  an  Author 
and  Governor  of  Nature.  The  true  questions  at 
issue  are  ethical  and  historical,  not  dynamical.  For 
between  the  human  will,  the  Ego,  and  the  mol- 
ecular dynamics  of  the  brain  a  dark  gulf  of  total 
ignorance  is  fixed,  which  not  a  ray  from  the  light  of 
science  has  ever  traversed.  In  one  sense,  indeed, 
the  question  and  the  evidence  are  experimental  ; 
but  the  experiments  cannot  be  made  in  the 
laboratory  or  in  the  dissecting-room :  they  lie 
amidst  the  hopes,  the  passions,  the  affections 
of  the  soul.  Did  Christ  rise  from  the  dead  ? 
Is  the  Gospel  of  the  Apostle  John  substanti- 
ally true  ?  These  and  such  as  these  are  the 
vital  questions.  For  nearly  two  thousand  years 
that  which  has  been  best  and  noblest  in  the 
intellect  of  mankind  has  responded,  "  Yes  " ; 
and  that  which  has  been  wisest  and  loveliest 
in  its  heart  has  confirmed  and  maintained  the 
response. 


VII 

THE  SLOWNESS  OF  THE  CREATIVE 
PROGRESS 


Discourse  forming  the  first  of  a  Course  of  Hulsean  Lectures, 
delivered  before  the  University  of  Cambridge  in  1866 


THE  SLOWNESS   OF  THE  CREATIVE 
PROCESS 

Isaiah  xi.  9 ;  2  Peter  hi.  8. 
"They  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy  mountain:   for 

the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the 

waters  cover  the  sea." 
"But,  beloved,  be  not  ignorant  of  this  one  thing,  that  one  day  is 

with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as 

one  day." 

Throughout  the  long  roll  of  many  centuries 
the  thoughts  contained  in  this  promise  of  the 
prophet,  and  in  this  caution  of  the  apostle,  have 
animated  the  hopes  or  sustained  the  patience 
of  God's  true  children  in  all  their  sad  variety  of 
pain.  The  promise  that  the  seed  of  the  woman 
should  bruise  the  serpent's  head  ushered  in  the 
first  dispensation  of  God's  grace  to  man.  Its 
reiteration  in  the  last  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
to  His  redeemed,  "Behold,  I  come  quickly," 
closes  the  Canon  of  the  Holy  Books.  It  was 
the    hope    that    the    Messiah    of    their    covenant 

N 


178  THE  SLOWNESS  OF  THE 

God  should  come  to  restore  the  land  and  the 
government  to  Israel,  which  alone  dried  the 
tears  of  those  who  had  sat  down  to  weep  by 
the  waters  of  Babylon,  hanging  their  harps  upon 
the  trees  that  were  therein.  It  was  substantially 
the  light  of  the  same  hope,  in  another  and  a 
brighter  form,  which  alone  illuminated  the  dreary 
catacombs  serving  at  once  for  the  tomb  and  the 
sanctuary,  and,  by  God's  providence,  for  the  cradle 
of  the  early  Church  struggling  in  her  agony. 
And  once  more,  in  times  nearer  to  our  own,  it 
was  the  settled  conviction  that  Christ  their  king 
would,  in  His  own  good  time,  come  to  them  in 
royal  form,  claiming  and  avenging  His  own,  which 
nerved  the  Waldenses  to  suppress  their  moans, 
and  to  look  with  undaunted  eye  upon  their 
slaughtered  saints, 

"  Slain  by  the  bloody  Piedmontese  who  roll'd 
Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks." 
By  this  hope  then  the  Church  of  God,  in  all  ages, 
has  been,  and  is  now,  saved,  and  that  not  alone  in 
her  fiercer  trials  and  rarer  emergencies,  but  it  is 
the  unclouded  confidence  that  Christ  the  king 
shall  one  day  reign  in  righteousness  and  peace 
which  shines  as  the  one  light  within  the  Christian's 
dwelling,  amidst  bereavement  or  anguish  or  poverty 
or  oppression  or  the  canker  of  earthly  hopes  ;  or 
in    serener   times    is  cherished   as  a  lamp  to  the 


CREATIVE  PROCESS  179 

Christian's  feet  and  a  lantern  to  his  path,  guiding 
and  cheering  him  in  the  noiseless  tenor  of  a  holy 
life.  I  may  add,  it  is  the  hope  of  this  second 
Advent  of  Christ  which  is  commemorated  through- 
out Christendom  this  very  day. 

Meanwhile,  where  is  the  promise  of  His  coming? 
For  since  the  Fathers  fell  asleep  all  things  continue 
as  they  were  from   the  beginning  of  the  creation. 
This  was  the  insidious   taunt  which   assailed  the 
faith  and  tried  the  constancy  of  the  early  Church. 
They  could  count  among  their  members  not  many 
wise  men  after  the  flesh.      For  the  most  part  they 
had  accepted   the   truth   as   it  is   in  Jesus,  not  so 
much  through   the  force  of  argument  as   through 
the  persuasion  of  the  logic  of  the  affections  and 
the  yearnings  of  spiritual   need  ;    hence  for  them 
the  best,  if  not  the  only  shield  against  these  fiery 
darts  of  the  evil  one  was  the  sacred  experience  of 
the   regenerate   heart,  the  witness  of  the   Divine 
Spirit  testifying  to  their  spirits  that  they  were  the 
sons  of  God  :  it  was  impossible  to  doubt  that  He 
who  had  said  to  them,  "  I  will  come  to  you  again," 
was    a    faithful    Saviour,    and    they   could    hardly 
forget   His  words,   "  in    patience   possess  ye  your 
souls." 

But  if  this  hope  deferred  was  a  sore  trial  to 
the  Christians  of  old,  how  has  the  force  of  that 
trial  become  redoubled  to  ourselves  after  the  lapse 


i8o  THE  SLOWNESS  OF  THE 

of  1800  years!  For  the  fact  cannot  be  evaded 
(and  I  have  no  desire  to  evade  the  fact)  that  the 
Lord  of  the  Church  still  "  delayeth  His  coming." 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Religion  of  the  Cross, 
that  truest  and  highest  "  knowledge  of  the  Lord," 
so  far  from  "  covering  the  earth,"  as  yet  extends 
not  even  in  a  nominal  form  over  a  fifth  part  of  its 
population  ;  and  the  familiar  records  of  every  day 
force  upon  us  the  unwelcome  conviction  that  of 
no  part  of  Christendom  can  it  be  said  with  truth, 
they  neither  "  hurt  nor  destroy  in  God's  holy  moun- 
tain." In  addition  to  this  severe  but  necessary 
trial  of  the  militant  Church  there  is  now  super- 
added this  gratuitous  exaggeration  of  her  trouble, 
that  men  who  pass  for  the  philosophers  of  the 
day  would  fain  persuade  us  that  the  true  reason 
of  the  slow  progress,  or,  as  they  would  invidiously 
term  it,  the  failure  of  Christianity,  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  religion  of  Christ,  like  other  systems,  has 
had  its  little  day,  has  run  its  natural  course,  and 
in  its  turn,  like  other  systems,  is  become 
obsolete.  If  this  thought  has  any  sting  in  it  for 
ourselves,  the  smart  perhaps  may  come  from 
the  consciousness  of  our  own  personal  share  in 
the  hindrance  to  the  progress  of  the  Faith  of 
Christ.  But  this  is  not  all.  There  are  those 
who  sit  in  the  seat  of  the  interpreters  of  Nature 
who  loudly  assert,  not  alone  that  all  things  have 


CREATIVE  PROCESS  iSi 

continued  ever  as  they  were  of  old,  but  that  by 
the  force  of  inevitable  law,  all  that  appertains  to 
the  world  of  matter,  and  to  the  world  of  intellect, 
and  to  the  world  of  emotion, 

"  whatever  stirs  this  mortal  frame," 
must  have  continued,  and  must  continue,  as  it 
was  since  the  beginning  of  the  creation.  These 
bold  interpreters  of  Nature,  it  would  be  unbe- 
coming to  use  a  stronger  term,  would  fain  have 
us  believe  that  they  have  extracted  from  their 
mistress  her  choicest  secret;  and  the  secret  is, 
that  she  everywhere  raises  her  voice  in  protest 
against  miracles,  and  ever  has  been,  and  must 
ever  be,  inexorable  to  the  pleadings  of  human 
prayer. 

If  these  allegations  of  the  opponents  of 
Christianity  were  indeed  true,  then  I  need 
scarcely  say,  of  all  men,  we  Christians  must  be 
most  pitiable.  But  what  is  the  reply  to  these 
calumnies  of  our  faith,  drawn,  as  they  are  said 
to  be,  from  this  alleged  monotonous  uniformity, 
this  inflexible  constancy  of  nature  ?  The  replies, 
I  conceive,  are  twofold  in  their  bearing.  To  one 
of  them  I  have  already  referred,  and  it  is  one 
which  requires  no  learning  save  the  learning  of 
the  heart  to  understand  or  to  supply.  It  is  true 
that  no  one  can  fully  appreciate  its  force  who  has 
not  found,  or  has  not   desired   to  find,  "  the  secret 


1 82  THE  SLOWNESS  OF  THE 

of  the  Lord,"  be  he  the  learned  or  be  he  the 
unlettered  man.  That  reply  was  expressed  in 
two  short  words  by  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
thoughtful  philosophers  who  have  lived  in  the 
respect  and  the  affections  of  Englishmen  in 
modern  times.  Speaking  of  the  truth  of  the 
Christian  faith  as  demonstrated  by  its  formal 
evidences,  Coleridge  said  with  an  emphasis  which 
will  sink  the  deeper  the  more  it  is  considered  : 
"  Do  not  talk  to  me  of  the  Evidences  of  Christi- 
anity ; Try  it."     And  there  is  many  a  simple 

man  and  many  a  gifted  man  among  us  who  could 
say,  I  have  tried  this  faith,  this  effete,  this  obsolete 
faith,  as  some  would  presume  to  call  it,  and  I 
have  found  that  it  fills  me  with  peace  ;  peace 
with  the  known  which  surrounds  me,  peace  with 
the  great  unknown  Father  who  is  above  and 
beyond  me  ;  it  refreshes  me  with  hope,  it  animates 
me  with  love,  it  endues  me  with  inner  strength  to 
eschew  the  evil  and  to  choose  the  good.  "  I 
know  in  whom  I  have  believed,  and  am 
persuaded  that  He  is  able  to  keep  that  which 
I  have  committed  unto  Him,  until  that  day." 
This  is  one  reply  which  satisfies  the  man's 
individual  self. 

But  for  us — for  us  who  are  surrounded  by  all 
the  appliances  of  learning,  and  furnished  with  the 
fruitful    results  of  ancient  and    modern   thought  ; 


CREATIVE  PROCESS  183 

for  US  whose  calling  of  God  it  is  to  go  forth 
to  the  great  outer  world,  clothed  not  alone  in 
a  panoply  for  ourselves,  but  who,  having  kindled 
our  torch  within  the  shrine  of  truth,  are  responsible 
for  the  sharing  and  the  diffusion  of  its  light  to 
those  who,  sitting  in  darkness  and  the  shadows 
of  doubt,  cry  out,  "  Come  over  and  help  us  " — 
what,  I  ask,  are  such  as  we  to  say  to  such  as 
these  ?  I  answer,  we  may  say  at  once  and 
in  general,  slowness  of  progress  is  no  sign  of 
failure ;  on  the  contrary,  slowness  of  progress 
in  all  that  is  enduring,  is  the  great  Law  of  the 
Universe.  The  creature  is  impatient,  the  Creator 
is  deliberate.  The  creature,  whose  sum  of  earthly 
life  is  bounded  by  the  threescore  years  and  ten, 
hurries  to  and  fro  in  the  restlessness  of  his  will  ; 
the  Creator,  sitting  in  quietude  upon  His  eternal 
throne,  upholdeth  all  things  in  the  majestic 
leisureness  of  unbounded  power.  With  Him  "  a 
thousand  years  are  as  one  day."  I  think  I  shall 
be  able  to  convince  you  that  it  is  to  overlooking 
this  law  of  slow  and  deliberate  action  in  the 
Divine  government  of  Nature,  that  wc  may  trace 
no  slight  part  of  the  mental  distress  which 
harasses  many  thoughtful  men  at  the  present 
day.  For  this  reason  I  propose  this  continuity 
of  the  law  of  slowness  of  progress,  pervading  the 
physical,  the  mental,  and  the  moral   universe — I 


1 84  THE  SLOWNESS  OF  THE 

propose  the  analogies  of  this  prevalent  leisureness 
of  the  Divine  action,  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  trace 
it  and  understand  it,  as  the  staple  and  the  main 
argument  of  at  least  two  of  the  Lectures  which  I 
am  to  deliver  from  this  pulpit.  It  is  to  this  that 
I  shall  shortly  return. 

And  next,  as  to  the  undisturbed  constancy, 
the  monotonous  uniformity  of  Nature,  which  at 
every  stage  of  its  progress  is  said  by  some  writers 
to  protest  against  the  intrusion  of  miracle,  and  to 
render  illogical  the  interposition  of  prayer  ; — 
when  I  think  of  the  scheme  of  Nature,  so  far 
as  it  is  comprehended  by  us  in  this  19th  century, 
my  mind  at  once  reverts  to  the  grand,  majestic, 
ceaseless  march  of  the  sun,  with  all  that  host 
of  material  systems  which  he  holds  together 
under  the  influence  of  his  power.  To  us  men, 
measuring,  as  we  must  measure,  by  our  earthly 
cycles  and  by  our  tiny  units  of  space,  this 
stately  march  of  the  solar  universe  seems  uniform 
in  its  rate,  and  definite  in  the  point  towards  which 
it  tends.  But  surely  this  uniformity  of  rate  and 
this  straight  definite  line  of  progress  are  only 
apparent,  and  arise  solely  from  the  incalculable 
sweep  of  the  cosmical  curve  in  which  this  universe 
moves,  and  from  mere  terrestrial  time,  as  yet  too 
brief  to  observe  a  deflection.  Wait  with  the 
patience    of    God,    and     this    vast    universe    will 


CREATIVE  PROCESS  185 

have  visited  other  regions  of  the  infinitude  of 
space  ;  new  and  it  may  be  inconceivable  circum- 
stances will  have  intervened,  new  combinations 
of  other  forces  will  have  been  introduced,  and 
the  rate  and  the  line  of  the  stately  progress  will 
all  be  changed.  And  as  it  is  impossible  to 
indicate  at  what  point  of  its  cosmical  orbit  this 
universe  may  not  enter  into  new  circumstances 
and  be  subject  to  new  forces,  thus  giving  rise 
to  hitherto  unknown  resultants  —  to  Miracles,  if 
you  please  to  assign  to  them  that  name — so  it 
seems  illogical  to  say  that  the  occurrence  of  such 
results  during  any  particular  era  of  the  world's 
existence  is  inconceivable.  So  this  earth  and  all 
that  is  on  it  and  surrounds  it,  this  Nature,  as  we 
call  it,  is  after  all  changeful  in  its  constancy,  and 
various  in  its  uniformity.  Constant  and  uniform 
alone  in  this,  that  it  is  under  the  care  of  God, 
with  whom  alone  is  "  no  variableness  neither 
shadow  of  turning." 

And  surely  this  steady,  various  march  of  the 
vast  material  Cosmos  can  hardly  fail  to  be  a  type 
of  the  moral  universe  circling  around  the  centre  of 
infinite  perfection  in  some  marvellous  orbit  which 
is  ever  approaching  and  approaching  the  throne  of 
God,  yet  never  nigh. 

With  thoughts  like  these  possessing  our  minds 
we  are  now  prepared  for  the  consideration  of  the 


1 86  THE  SLOWNESS  OF  THE 

main  subject  on  which  I  desire  to  engage  your 
attention,  viz.  continuity  of  slowness  of  progress  as 
a  law  of  created  things.  I  think  that  walking  by 
the  light  of  human  knowledge — a  knowledge  which 
we  ought  never  to  forget  has  come  to  us  through 
God's  blessing  on  His  own  great  gift  of  genius 
wherewith  He  has  inspired  favoured  men,  loyal  to 
the  responsibility  of  their  calling — I  say,  walking 
by  the  light  of  science  we  shall  find,  /;/  the  first 
place,  many  indications  of  deliberate  slowness  of 
progress  in  the  successive  stages  of  the  creation  of 
the  earth,  ultimately  fitting  it  with  a  marvellous 
and  a  loving  foresight  for  the  abode  of  Man. 
And,  in  tJie  second  place,  after  Man  has  appeared 
upon  this  elaborate  earth,  Man  with  all  his  latent 
vast  capacity,  I  am  sure  we  shall  trace  a  similar 
slowness  of  progress  in  the  development  of  his 
intellectual  powers,  and  in  his  acquisition  and 
storing  up  of  human  knowledge  ;  and  surely  this 
knowledge  is  a  creation  also — the  creation  of  the 
mind. 

And  I  would  then  ask,  if  we  shall  have  suc- 
ceeded in  tracing  slowness  of  progress  as  a 
primordial  law,  which  the  great  Creator  has  im- 
posed upon  Himself  both  in  the  material  and  in 
the  intellectual  parts  of  His  creation,  would  you 
not,  in  the  third  place,  expect  to  find  a  similar 
slowness  of  progress  in  the  moral  development  of 


CREATIVE  PROCESS  187 

man,  in  the  restoration,  in  the  building  up  his 
moral  being  into  the  image  of  God  ?  would  you 
not  in  fact  expect  to  find  a  slowness  of  progress  in 
the  acceptance  of  Christianity  in  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  God's  redeemed,  if  a  revelation  told  you, 
as  it  assuredly  does  tell  you,  that  the  religion  of 
Christ  is  the  only  means  of  perfecting  their  moral 
nature  in  the  sight  of  a  Holy  Creator  ? 

Or,  putting  this  argument  into  another  form, 
if  we  find,  as  we  do  find,  this  progress  of  the 
Christian  faith  slow,  it  may  be  even  mysteriously 
slow,  shall  we  not  say  that  this  is  in  analogy,  in 
continuity,  with  those  other  arrangements  for  the 
progress  of  the  material  creation,  and  for  the 
development  of  man's  intellectual  being,  both  of 
which  we  admit  originate  with  God  ? 

Now  this  is  the  main  argument  which  I  shall 
propose  for  your  consideration  :  no  doubt  it  will 
have  a  few  ramifications,  and  I  may  be  compelled 
to  deduce  from  it  a  corollary  or  two  not  perhaps 
wholly  expected  from  the  premises  on  which  the 
argument  itself  is  founded.  I  think,  for  instance, 
it  will  be  found  to  throw  some  light  upon  the 
interpretation  which  ought  to  be  put  upon  certain 
portions  of  the  divine  revelation  contained  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  not  merely  because  the  in- 
terpretation may  be  found  rational  and  consistent, 
but  because  it  is  become  necessary.      And  if  the 


i88  THE  SLOWNESS  OF  THE 

mode  of  interpretation  I  allude  to  be  true,  then  I 
think  it  will  remove  from  some  minds  a  load 
which  has  long  oppressed  them,  as  certainly  it  has 
removed  it  from  my  own. 

Moreover,  as  we  proceed  with  this  argument, 
we  shall  now  and  then  find  occasion  to  pause  for 
a  moment  from  the  observation  of  the  law  of 
continuity  in  slowness  of  progress,  to  trace  the 
marks  of  exquisite  beauty  which  never  fail  to 
accompany  the  growth  of  the  things  created,  and 
to  observe  also  the  Joy  of  Life,  in  the  midst  ot 
which,  and  by  means  of  which,  these  creations 
themselves  proceed. 

My  friends,  if  this  stately  slowness  amidst 
beauty  and  life  and  joy  be  a  law  of  Nature,  one 
effect  of  such  considerations  upon  any  heart  pre- 
pared and  attuned  by  the  Spirit  of  God  must  be 
that,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  noise  and  tumult 
and  hurry  of  the  comings  and  goings  in  the  world, 
that  heart  will  once  more  hear  the  voice  of  Christ 
the  Saviour,  "  Come  ye  aside  with  me  into  a 
quiet  place,  and  rest  awhile."  Even  so.  Lord, 
abide  with  us. 

I.  And  now,  for  the  purposes  of  illustrating 
our  argument,  I  must  ask  you  for  a  moment  to 
summon  forth  that  divine  creative  faculty  where- 
with God  has  lovingly  endued  us  for  the  clearer 
apprehension  of  his  manifold  works.      In  imagina- 


CREATIVE  PROCESS  189 

tlon  I  must  ask  you  to  ascend  with  me  some  old 
Silurian  hill  on  the  primeval  earth,  ages  upon 
ages  before  God  had  fitted  it  for  the  abode  of 
man.  Picture  to  yourselves  some  mighty  stream 
like  the  Ganges  or  the  Amazon  rolling  its  waters 
from  far  distant  mountains  into  an  ancient  sea. 
You  observe  the  broad  interminable  belt  of  forest 
which,  stretching  inland  further  than  the  eye  can 
reach,  rises  in  wild  luxuriance  from  the  swamps 
which  fringe  the  stream.  You  may  trace  there 
the  majestic  pine,  the  graceful  fern,  the  erect 
gigantic  moss,  fluted  and  towering  columnar  reeds, 
and  a  strange  fantastic  undergrowth,  unknown  to 
the  flora  of  the  age  of  man.  The  oak  and  the 
elm,  the  sycamore  and  the  noble  acacias  of  the 
west,  you  will  not  find,  for  as  yet  they  are  not 
created.  There  are  no  cattle  grazing  "  upon  a 
thousand  hills,"  for  God  as  yet  has  not  clothed 
those  hills  with  grass.  In  the  thick  jungle  of 
these  primeval  forests  you  will  not  hear  "  the 
young  lions  roaring  after  their  prey,"  for  as  yet 
there  is  no  meat  provided  for  such  by  God. 
Those  forests  are  tuneless  of  the  glad  carols  of 
the  birds,  for  as  yet  "  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and 
the  fruit-tree  yielding  fruit  after  his  kind  "  are  not 
created  for  their  food.  Apart  from  the  low  croak 
of  the  reptile,  and  it  may  be  the  shrill  chirp  of 
many  an  insect,  there  is  the  hush  of  the  silence  of 


190  THE  SLOWNESS  OF  THE 

non-existence  amidst  those  matted  fronds,  save 
when  the  voice  of  the  Lord  is  heard  in  the  thunder 
or  the  wind. 

And  if  in  the  strength  of  this  creative  gift  you 
still  keep  your  stand  upon  your  watch-place  for 
ages  beyond  your  power  to  count,  you  will  see 
nothing  but  the  decay  and  the  renewal  of  that 
interminable  umbrageous  belt  The  ferns  will 
fade,  the  gigantic  moss  and  the  columnar  reed 
will  shrivel,  and  the  pines  will  decay  and  fall  to 
their  mother  earth,  but  all  this  only  to  make  way 
for  another  and  more  luxuriant  growth.  And  so 
for  ages. 

At  length  the  scene  changes,  and  through 
some  mighty  pulsation,  some  throb  of  the  earth's 
bosom,  ordained  of  God,  you  see  the  waters  of  the 
broad  swampy  margin  deepen  and  deepen,  and 
then  pile  upon  pile  of  forest  growth  and  forest 
decay  are  submerged  and  gone.  But  wait  awhile 
for  the  lapse  of  years  :  I  know  not  how  many, 
for  science  as  yet  has  found  no  unit  for  the 
measure  of  cycles  such  as  these.  Whatever  the 
periods  may  be,  the  divine  faculty  within  us 
concentrates  and  apprehends  them  all  as  but  a 
whiff  of  vaporous  time.  Wait  awhile,  and  then 
upon  the  broad  silted  margin  of  the  everlasting 
stream  piles  upon  piles  of  other  forests  again  rise 
and  decay,  and  by  slow  successive  pulsations  of 


CREATIVE  PROCESS  191 

the   uncompleted    earth   in    their   turn    disappear 
beneath  the  swollen  tide. 

Now  if  in  spirit  you  saw  all  this,  and  only 
this,  would  you  be  able  to  decipher  the  mean- 
ing of  the  riddle?  Would  you  imagine,  for  in- 
stance, that  all  this  mysterious  prodigality  of  decay 
was  a  divine  elaborate  contrivance  for  the  pro- 
duction and  storing  of  fuel  for  the  service  of 
races  of  beings  yet  unborn  ?  As  you  witnessed 
the  successive  growths  and  submergence  of  those 
forests,  could  you  foresee  or  conceive  in  what  way 
such  an  arrangement  of  things  could  one  day 
materially  conduce  to  the  development  of  the 
genius  of  intelligent  creatures  who  were  destined 
to  be  in  remote  futurity  the  last  and  chiefest 
denizens  of  the  earth  ?  And  if  some  bright 
messenger  from  the  throne  of  God  stood  at  your 
side,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  vision  had  told 
you  how,  in  other  forests  of  far  different  growth, 
the  fowls  of  heaven  would  one  day  "  make  their 
nests,  and  sing  among  the  branches  " ;  if  he  had 
told  you  that  cattle  would  graze  upon  a  thousand 
hills,  and  that  "  by  the  springs  in  the  valleys  the 
wild  asses  should  quench  their  thirst  "  ;  if  he  had 
told  you  that  God  would  place  upon  the  earth  a 
being  clothed  in  the  majestic  image  of  His  own 
mind,  to  be  the  lord  and  master  of  created  things; 
then  I   think  that   at  the   first  you  would   receive 


192  THE  SLOWNESS  OF  THE 

the  revelation,  though  in  wonder  yet  in  thankful- 
ness of  spirit,  and  you  would  wait  in  the  fulness 
of  hope  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  promise. 
But  if  the  vision  proceeded  through  incalculable 
time,  and  for  ages  you  had  seen  nothing  but  what, 
for  want  of  better  knowledge,  seemed  to  you  an 
endless  prodigality  of  waste,  would  you  in  your 
impatience  be  tempted  to  say,  Surely  that  bright 
messenger  of  God  spoke  to  me  in  parables,  for  I 
see  nothing,  and  for  ages  I  have  seen  nothing, 
but  a  constant  inflexible  uniformity  of  Nature  : 
as  for  the  grass  which  he  told  me  was  to  cover 
the  hills,  and  the  thousands  of  cattle  which 
were  to  fill  the  plains,  all  such  creations  would 
be  inconceivable,  miraculous  interruptions  of  that 
Nature  which  for  thousands  of  centuries  I  have 
observed  unbroken  in  its  course.  And  as  for 
the  advent  of  that  being  who  is  to  be  the  lord 
of  that  new  earth,  "  where  now  is  the  promise 
of  his  coming,  for  since  the  beginning  of  the 
creation  all  things  continue  as  they  were  ?  " 

My  friends,  I  have  not  been  amusing  you 
with  some  fantastic  creation  of  the  brain,  but  I 
have  been  reminding  you  of  the  mode  of  the  divine 
action  during  one  stage  of  the  Creation.  And 
there  are  many  like  it.  Be  it  remembered  that  to 
this  knowledge  of  the  Lord's  ways  we  have  attained 
through  the  righteous  and  loyal  use  of  the  Lord's 


I 


CREATIVE  PROCESS  193 

gift.  And  one  conclusion  that  we  may  draw  from 
that  knowledge  is  this,  that  God's  mode  of  action 
in  the  material  creation  has  been  and  is  deliberate 
and  slow,  majestic  in  the  composure  of  its  leisure- 
ness.  There  is  also  another  inference  which  I  think 
naturally  flows  from  the  argument  before  us  ;  it  is 
one  full  of  hope  and  encouragement  to  man,  and 
with  that  I  shall  conclude.  The  inference  is  this  ; 
— as  the  material  universe,  so  far  as  we  see  it,  at 
length  came  forth  from  the  Creator  perfect  in 
relation  to  its  purposes,  fraught  with  beauty  and 
"  very  good,"  so  also  we  may  expect  the  progress 
of  the  immaterial^  the  intellectual  part  of  us, 
though  ordained  to  be  equally  deliberate  and 
equally  slow,  will  go  on  and  on,  embracing  in 
intelligent  perception  one  after  another  of  the 
wonderful  works  of  God,  improving  and  im- 
proving, not  alone  in  the  clearness  and  amount 
of  its  intelligence,  but  in  the  comprehensiveness 
of  its  grasp  and  the  grandeur  of  its  capacity. 

And  in  like  manner,  notwithstanding  there  is  so 
much  to  grieve  and  to  disappoint  in  the  sin,  and 
the  misery,  and  the  degradation,  and  the 
perversion  of  God's  gifts  which  we  see  around  us  ; 
notwithstanding  the  acknowledged  slowness  of  the 
progress  of  Christianity  ;  nevertheless,  what  I  am 
permitted  to  see  of  the  ultimately  perfect  results 
of  a  slow  and   deliberate  action   in  other  parts  of 

O 


194  THE  SLOWNESS  OF  THE 

the  Creation  checks  In  me,  and  I  hope  in  you, 
all  despondency  for  the  fate  of  our  holy  religion  ; 
it  removes  all  doubt  that  the  Gospel  of  the 
Cross  of  Christ,  possibly  by  its  own  divine 
native  force,  shall  ultimately  triumph  ;  and  it 
animates  us  with  a  confident  hope  that  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  Jesus  shall  in  the  end  subdue  every 
heart  to  Himself,  and  then  "  the  earth  shall  be 
filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the 
waters  cover  the  sea." 

While   I  have  been   speaking  to  you  on   these 

great    topics,   my   friends,   it    cannot   but    be  that 

the  thoughts  of  many  hearts   have  been  revealed 

to  themselves.      And   are   they  not  such  as  these  ? 

Wherefore   this   hurry  of  mine,   and   this   feverish 

haste  for  the  result?      Is  this  work   I    am   about, 

the  work  which   my  Father  has  given  me  to  do  ? 

— then  like  all  God's  other  works  it  is  to  be  done 

with     constancy,     with      forethought,     and     with 

deliberate   patience.      I  will  cast   my  bread   upon 

the  waters,  not  looking  for  the  harvest  to-morrow 

or    the   next    day,   but    in    the    fulness    of    faith, 

not    doubting   that    I    shall    find    it   after    many 

days ! 

And  I  think  something  of  the  same  tenor 
must  have  been  passing  among  the  thoughts  of 
those  of  you  who  now  sit  where  I  well  remember 
sitting   a  full  generation   of  man   ago.      Judging 


CREATIVE  PROCESS  195 

from  my  own  heart  and  from  my  own  recollection, 
young  men  stand  in  need  of  an  ever-present 
heavenly  help  to  check,  sometimes  impatience, 
sometimes  despondency,  sometimes  a  proneness  to 
judge  before  the  time.  To-day  we  have  been 
considering  the  patience  of  God.  In  your  finite 
measure  strive  to  walk  after  that  rule.  Commit 
thy  way  unto  Him,  and  He  shall  bring  it  to  pass. 
Rest  in  the  Lord  and  wait  patiently  for  Him  !  If 
there  is  one  frame  of  mind  stronger  and  happier 
than  another,  it  is  tJie  mind  stayed  on  God  I  In 
the  great  Saviour's  name   PRAY  FOR  THAT. 


Condorcet's  Prophecy 

Towards  the  end  of  the  last  century  there 
lived  an  accomplished  philosopher  in  a  neighbouring 
country,  who  in  the  highest  posts  of  literary  oflfice 
had  served  it  well,  and  had  encouraged  and 
advanced  the  various  branches  of  the  learning  of 
the  times.  Those  were  the  days  of  the  public 
denial  of  God,  and  hence  upon  the  men  of  those 
days  there  came  the  inevitable  Nemesis  of  violence 
and  riot.  The  man  of  whom  I  speak  was  pro- 
scribed, and  fled  into  concealment. 

In  a  solitary  chamber,  with  one  only  friend   to 


196  THE  SLOWNESS  OF  THE 

visit  him,  this  remarkable  man,  after  many  months 
of  seclusion  without  access  to  a  single  book,  sat 
down  to  the  task  of  writing  the  progress  of  the 
human  mind  from  the  dawn  of  history  ;  that  work 
accomplished,  he  began  to  record  his  hopes  and 
conceptions  of  its  future  destiny.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  practical  experience,  and  endued  with  a 
genius  well  tutored  by  adversity ;  would  that  I 
could  say  he  accepted  the  Christian  Faith  even  in 
the  mutilated  form  in  which  they  who  said  they 
had  the  keys  of  knowledge,  presented  it  to  his 
mind. 

Condorcet  lived  in  this  solitary  chamber,  thus 
unilluminated  by  the  Christian's  hope,  just  long 
enough  to  complete  the  outline  of  his  great  work, 
and  then  he  was  compelled  to  fly,  and  to  perish 
with  a  miserable  death  in  his  flight. 

"  Deserted  in  his  utmost  need 
By  those  his  former  bounty  fed." 

Now,  what  think  you  was  the  conclusion  to 
which  this  accomplished  solitary  man  arrived 
regarding  the  spread  of  goodness  and  knowledge 
among  mankind  ?  He  concluded  that  an  amount 
of  knowledge,  and  a  force  of  genius,  and  a  perfec- 
tion of  virtue,  quite  inconceivable  to  ourselves  at 
present,  would  one  day  in  the  far  vista  of  time 
certainly    prevail    throughout     the    nations    of    a 


CREATIVE  PROCESS  197 

densely-populated  world.  Change  these  words 
into  the  "  Knowledge  of  the  Lord,"  and  they 
approximate  to  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah.  Did 
Condorcet  unconsciously  see  the  shadows  of  the 
angels'  wings  who  are  sent  from  the  throne  of 
God  for  their  accomplishment  ? 

Accomplished  that  prophecy  must  be,  but  not 
by  the  means  which  the  philosopher  conceived. 
"  Not  by  power  nor  by  might,  but  by  my  Spirit, 
saith  the  Lord."  So  to  this  end  the  Divine  Lord 
of  His  Church  sends  to  one  man  the  gift  of  sug- 
gestion, to  another  the  gift  of  combination,  by  the 
same  Spirit  ;  to  one  man  he  sends  the  genius  of 
patient  investigation,  by  the  same  Spirit ;  to  one 
man  is  given  the  word  of  wisdom,  to  another 
faith,  to  another  prophecy,  for  the  perfecting  of 
the  saints,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
till  we  all  come,  in  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect 
man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness 
of  Christ.  Then  the  Earth  shall  be  full 
OF  the  Knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the 
Waters  cover  the  Sea. 

"  If  by  Thy  decree 
The  consummation  that  will  come  by  stealth, 
Be  yet  far  distant,  let  Thy  Word  prevail, 
Oh  !  let  Thy  Word  prevail,  to  take  away 
The  sting  of  human  nature.      Spread  the  law, 


198  THE  SLOWNESS  OF  CREATION 

As  it  is  written  in  this  Holy  Book, 
Throughout  all  lands  ;  let  every  nation  hear 
The  high  behest,  and  every  heart  obey. 

Father  of  Good  ;  this  prayer  in  bounty  grant, 
In  mercy  grant  it,  to  the  wretched  sons. 
Then,  not  till  then,  shall  persecution  cease, 
And  cruel  wars  expire.     The  way  is  marked, 
The  guide  appointed,  and  the  Ransom  paid." 

Wordsworth,  Excursioji^  Bk.  ix. 


VII 

DIFFICULTIES    IN    BELIEF 

An  Address  delivered  to  followers  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh  in  Northampton 
1882 


ADVERTISEMENT 

In  the  following  Address  to  the  mechanics  at  Northampton,  it  will 
be  found  that  several  of  the  topics  introduced  have  been  already 
discussed  in  previous  Essays.  The  peculiar  circumstances  of  the 
Northampton  workmen  seemed  to  me,  at  the  time,  to  indicate  the 
selection  which  has  been  adopted.  Thus  the  old  picture  is  in  a  new 
frame,  and  the  reader,  if  so  disposed,  can  pass  it  by. 


INTRODUCTION 

The  following  Address,  delivered  at  Northampton 
in  1882,  would  not  have  been  reprinted  among 
these  Essays,  had  it  not  been  for  the  peculiar 
character  of  the  audience,  and  the  somewhat 
remarkable  circumstances  which  occurred  during 
the  discussion  which  followed  it.  For,  in  point  of 
fact,  the  main  thoughts  which  this  Address  con- 
tains have  already  been  expressed  (and  possibly 
more  than  once)  in  the  writings  which  have  here 
preceded  it ;  nevertheless  the  arrangement  of  these 
thoughts  is  different,  and  the  whole  Address  may 
be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  general  summary  of 
arguments  relating  to  some  of  the  more  prominent 
difficulties  which  are  alleged  to  militate  against 
the  acceptance  of  the  Christian  Faith. 

A  few  years  ago  I  was  requested,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  one  or  two  other  clergymen,  by  the 
Incumbent  of  St.  Edmund's,  Northampton,  to 
address  an  assembly  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh's  adherents 


202  DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF 

in  the  parish  church  on  certain  topics  which  they 
alleged  stood  in  the  way  of  their  acceptance  of 
Christianity.  The  project  seemed  at  first  to  be 
beset  with  perils,  and  to  offer  but  little  prospect  of 
eventual  good.  But  the  perils  in  fact  did  not 
present  themselves,  and  I  have  been  assured  on  the 
highest  authority  that  the  permanent  result  has  been 
the  addition  of  many  worshippers  who  hitherto  had 
abstained  from  attending  religious  services. 

The  arrangements  made  for  the  delivery  of 
these  lectures  included  an  Address  on  the  Sunday 
afternoon,  followed  by  a  hymn.  After  this  the 
congregation  again  met  in  the  large  parish  school- 
room, at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  the 
subject  of  the  Lecture  was  to  be  discussed,  and 
replies  given  to  such  questions  as  arose  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Address.  In  my  own  case  I  thought 
it  advisable  to  conciliate  the  goodwill  of  my 
audience  by  the  delivery  of  a  Lecture  on  the 
preceding  Saturday  evening  ;  the  subject  which  I 
selected  was  The  Vast  and  the  MintUe  in  Natui^e. 
The  starry  vault  and  its  denizens  illustrated  the 
former ;  while  the  conflicts  of  the  atoms  in  a  gas,  and 
the  marvellous  beauty  of  microscopic  foraminifera 
furnished  the  topics  relating  to  the  latter.  The 
whole  was  designed  as  an  introduction  to  the 
general  Address,  and  is  alluded  to  therein. 

The    projected    discussion    in   the  schoolroom 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF  203 

on  the  Sunday  evening  had  presented  to  my 
mind  considerable  apprehensions  ;  but  so  far  from 
any  contretemps  arising,  it  passed  off  with  the 
expression  of  goodwill  towards  myself  For  a 
time  the  questions  referred,  strange  to  say,  to  ex- 
pressions in  the  Athanasian  Creed  ;  I  presume  that 
Unitarians,  rather  than  adherents  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh, 
abounded  in  the  room.  I  might  have  evaded  the 
queries  by  stating  that  in  my  Address  I  had  not 
entered  upon  or  alluded  to  these  great  mysteries  of 
our  religion ;  but  I  availed  myself  of  the  opportunity 
of  so  far  expressing  my  sympathy  with  a  portion 
of  their  difficulties  by  stating  that,  although  my 
own  mind  was  fully  convinced  as  to  the  truth  of 
the  main  articles  in  this  ancient  hymn,  neverthe- 
less it  had  been  a  subject  of  regret  with  many 
devout  persons  that  these  articles  were  expressed 
in  language  not  found  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures  ; 
and  I  told  them  that  not  long  since  I  had  received 
a  letter  from  one  of  the  most  devout  and  devoted 
of  Churchmen,  the  late  Lord  Chancellor  Hather- 
ley,  in  which  he  said  that  he  did  not  consider  any 
Church  or  Society  of  men  authorised  to  affix  pains 
or  penalties,  expressed  or  implied,  for  the  non- 
acceptance  of  a  religious  doctrine  not  expressed  in 
the  ipsissima  verba  of  Scripture.  I  was  glad  to 
make  this  admission,  in  order  that  it  might  be 
seen   that    orthodox    clergymen    are    not    the    un- 


204  DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF 

reasonable  or  unreasoning  men  they  were  often 
presumed  to  be,  and  I  think  I  succeeded  therein/ 
I  was  somewhat  surprised  to  find  that  my 
sceptical  opponents  were  so  little  versed  in  the 
real  drift  and  strength  of  their  own  assumed 
opinions :  for  the  most  part  they  follow,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  the  dicta  of  the  more  vivacious  leaders  whom 
they  have  selected,  whether  from  conviction  or  from 
fashion,  and  have  personally  but  little  worked  out 
the  causes  or  the  consequences  of  their  own 
objections. 

At  length  there  rose  up,  amidst  considerable 
applause,  a  gentleman  who  seemed  to  be  a  Cory- 
phaeus among  them.  He  said  that  one  result  of 
his  own  studies  had  been  the  conviction  that  the 
form  of  religion  in  any  place  very  much  depended 
on    its    latitude    and    longitude,    and   he  therefore 

1  In  the  year  following  this  conference  at  Northampton,  it 
chanced  to  be  my  lot  to  be  anchored  on  a  steamboat  off  Luxor  on 
the  Nile  on  a  Sunday.  The  sounds  of  our  hymn,  sung  at  morning 
worship,  must  have  been  echoed  over  the  desert  from  the  walls 
of  the  temples  of  Carnac,  hard  by.  Our  dragoman,  a  fine  tall 
Mussulman  of  remarkably  dignified  bearing,  and  of  great  natural 
intelligence,  was  listening  to  our  service.  That  concluded,  I  took 
the  opportunity  of  venturing  a  few  words  to  him  in  relation  there- 
unto. My  friend  drew  himself  up,  and  at  once  stopped  the 
conversation  by  saying,  "Sir,  I  am  a  Mahometan,  not  a  very 
good  Mahometan,  I  fear,  but  I  hope  to  be  better  :  you  Christians 
worship ///r^i?  Gods,  Mahometans  worship  but  One."  I  regretted 
that  the  ancient  Christian  creed  was  so  worded  as  to  lead  to  the 
Mahometan's  misconception  of  its  meaning. 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF  205 

"wished  to  ask  the  learned  Lecturer  whether  in  any 
place  it  might  be  lawful  to  worship  a  crocodile." 
He  sat  down  amidst  applause  even  greater  than 
that  which  occurred  when  he  rose  to  put  this 
presumed  annihilating  question. 

I  remarked  that  I  so  far  agreed  with  my 
ingenious  friend,  that  it  did  seem  a  fact  that 
locality  and  surrounding  circumstances  modify  the 
purely  external  forms  of  religion,  and  that  if  my 
friend  lived  in  a  country  abounding  in  crocodiles, 
and  if  nothing  within  his  own  mind  and  spirit,  and 
if  nothing  external  to  them,  suggested  a  different 
form  of  worship,  then  he  had  better  worship  a  croco- 
dile than  nothing  at  all ;  but  inasmuch  as  my  friend 
lived  in  the  beautiful  town  of  Northampton,  where 
I  had  failed  to  find  either  zoological  gardens  or  an 
aquarium,  if  he  in  Northampton  elected  to  worship 
a  crocodile  in  lieu  of  any  other  object  of  worship, 
or  no  worship  at  all,  then  the  responsibility  rested 
with  himself.  It  was  now  the  Lecturer's  turn  to 
hear  the  notes  of  approbation,  and  my  objecting 
friend  found  nothing  to  reply,  notwithstanding 
the  symptoms  of  mirth  which  were  exhibited 
around  him  ;  and  I  have  since  been  told  that 
his  influence  among  his  sceptical  colleagues  has 
greatly  declined. 


NATURE,    MIRACLES,    AND    PRAYER 

Yesterday  evening  I  had  the  pleasure,  may  I 
say  the  responsible  privilege,  of  addressing,  I  hope, 
the  greater  part  of  those  now  present,  on  the 
inconceivable  immensity  and  multiplicity  of  the 
natural  things  amidst  which  we  live,  and  move, 
and  have  our  being.  Inconceivable  in  their 
magnitude,  in  their  distances,  and  in  their 
astounding  numbers,  I  spoke  to  you  of  millions  of 
systems  or  sets  of  universes  ;  each  system  or  set, 
like  our  Milky  Way,  containing  many  millions  of 
suns,  and  each  sun  surrounded  by  its  own,  possibly 
and  probably  habitable  worlds,  or  at  all  events  by 
one  habitable  world.  And  then  I  spoke  to  you  of 
something  which  always  excites  more  deeply  my 
own  astonishment,  viz.  that  conflict  of  myriads  of 
millions  of  millions  of  atoms  within  a  little  glass 
vessel,  which  enables  the  water  in  our  pumps  to 
rise,  and  the  gas  we  consume  to  give  us  heat  and 
light.  So  much,  then,  for  the  lifeless,  inorganic 
materials  which  either  form  a  part  of  or  surround 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF  207 

the  abode  of  man.  I  then  remarked  that  unless 
these  inconceivably  numerous  portions  of  matter, 
great  and  small,  but  all  in  a  state  of  violent 
motion,  were  constructed  and  regulated  in  accord- 
ance with  some,  to  our  conception,  stupendous 
schemes  or  plans,  the  result  would  not  be  the 
beautiful  order  of  things  which  we  daily  experience. 
We  should,  in  the  absence  of  a  Scheme,  be  sur- 
rounded by  turmoil  and  confusion,  and  by  the 
uncertainty,  nay,  the  impossibility  of  life,  amidst 
the  interminable  chaos.  The  vast  universe  around 
us,  and  of  which  we  men  form  a  part,  must  there- 
fore be  constructed  and  regulated  on  some  mighty 
scheme,  at  least  as  much  a  scheme  as  you  daily 
see  in  the  ingenious  machines  you  use.  Now 
amidst  all  this  magnificent  universe  man,  as  you 
know,  is  placed.  An  atom  of  sand,  you  might  say, 
amid  myriads  of  sandhills  ;  but  on  reflection  you 
will  correct  your  estimate  of  the  poor  significance 
of  man.  For  man,  each  individual  man,  is  far  more 
wonderful,  and  far  greater  in  the  scale  of  being, 
than  are  all  those  innumerable  universes  of  matter 
that  I  spoke  of  put  together.  In  a  strong  sense 
he  is  the  lord  and  master  of  the  world  in  which  he 
lives.  Think,  for  instance,  of  the  intellect  of  man  ; 
it  pierces  beyond  the  universe  of  stars  ;  it  counts, 
it  weighs,  and  it  measures  them.  He  avails  him- 
self of  their  orderly  movements  for  the  regulation 


2oS  DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF 

of  his  calendar  ;  and  he  makes  the  stars,  in  their 
nightly  revolution,  subservient  to  the  navigation 
of  his  ships.  He  calls  forth  the  lightning  that 
is  hidden  in  a  drop  of  water,  and  he  makes  it 
convey  his  messages,  with  its  native  speed,  across 
the  world — across  the  bed  of  the  Atlantic,  or  the 
Indian  Ocean  ;  or  else  he  bids  it  illuminate  his 
cities  in  the  darkness  of  the  night.  His  mind 
deals  with  the  immensities  around  him,  and  there- 
fore claims  affinity  with  the  infinite. 

But  far  beyond  the  power  of  his  understanding, 
man  is  endowed  with  affections  ;  he  can  love,  oh  ! 
how  tenderly  and  faithfully  ;  he  can  hate,  oh  !  how 
bitterly,  and  without  remorse.  And  then  think  for 
a  moment  of  his  wonderful  memory  ;  the  events  of 
his  own  life's  history  treasured  up  in  its  recesses  ; 
and  yet  all  that  life's  history,  unfoldable,  repro- 
duceable  in  its  general  detail,  within  the  space  of  a 
few  minutes.  Think,  again,  how  his  mind  refuses 
to  confine  its  workings  to  the  immediate  things 
around  him  :  with  irrepressible,  passionate  curiosity 
it  insists  on  asking — "  Whence  am  I  ?  What  am  I  ? 
Whither  am  I  going  ?  "  Amidst  all  the  grandeur 
of  the  innumerable  worlds,  man  then,  even  as  an 
individual,  is  not  the  mere  grain  of  sand  on  one  of 
a  myriad  of  sandhills,  but  is  intrinsically  greater 
than  the  things  he  sees.  Each  man,  I  say  ;  myself, 
and  not  another.      For  each  can  say,  or  he  has  the 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF  209 

capacity  to  say,  to  the  Lord  and  Governor  Himself 
of  this  mighty  universe,  "  My  God,  my  Father,  and 
my  Friend." 

And  now,  just  for  a  moment,  think  also  of  the 
wonderful  abode  in   which  man   is   placed,  and   of 
which  he  is   partially  the  master.      He  is  every- 
where surrounded  by  materials   by  which,  through 
genius  and   diligence,  he   may  improve  and   exalt 
his  condition.      Think  of  the  uses  which  he  makes 
of  the   metals,   for  instance  :    those  metals   stored 
away  in  abundance  within  the  recesses  of  the  earth, 
but  within   the   reach  of  his   industry.       Without 
these  metals  he  must  remain  a  savage.      The  bones 
of  fishes  would  be  his  needles  ;  his  saws,  and  axes, 
and  chisels  would  be  found  in  flints.      His  naviga- 
tion would  be  performed   in   the  hollow  of  a  tree, 
laboriously  scooped  out  with  a  stone  ;  his  voyages 
limited  to  his  native  coast,  or  the  islands  close  to 
his  shore.      Think  by  what  hand,  by  what  provident 
mind,  these   metals  were  thus   stored.      And   then 
think   of  the   beauty   that  surrounds   him,  for   his 
refreshment — the  starry  heavens,  the  rainbow,  the 
ever-varying  shadowy  landscape,  and  the  inexpress- 
ible  loveliness   of    the   flowers.      And   yet  if  this 
being,  thus   placed   and  thus  endowed,  so  wills   it, 
he   may   degrade   himself   below   the   brutes  ;   his 
choice  ranging  from  what  we   call   the   God-like  to 
the   diabolical.       No  human   being   is   made   as   a 

P 


2IO  DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF 

machine  :  he  is  free  to  choose.  And  then  comes 
the  irrepressible  question,  "What  does  all  this 
mean  ?  "  It  is  impossible  not  to  feel  assured  that 
man  forms  a  part  of  some  plan  ;  he  must  be  a 
link  within  the  chain  of  some  grand  scheme. 
What  is  this  plan  ?  What  is  that  scheme  ? 
Whence  am  I  ?  Whither  am  I  going  ?  And  if, 
with  some  impatience,  some  among  you  may  say 
it  is  impossible  to  discern  the  scheme,  it  is  all 
"  unknowable "  ;  if  you  say  man's  real  business 
here  lies  in  the  present  only,  and  in  making  the 
best  of  what  immediately  surrounds  him  ;  then  I 
rejoin,  "What,  then,  is  that  best  that  he  can 
do  in  this  present  with  all  that  surrounds  him,  not 
with  a  part  of  it  only  ?  "  And  as  to  his  question- 
ings about  the  future  and  the  unseen,  why  you 
cannot  stop  them  ;  they  are  a  part  of  his  nature  ; 
his  longings  are  irrepressible.  The  "  whence  "  and  • 
the  "  whither  "  are  bound  up  within  the  recesses  of 
his  being.  To  stifle  them  you  must  unman  the 
man.  Now,  the  material  things  around  him — 
earth,  and  sun,  and  sky — can  give  him  no  clue  to 
these  obstinate  questionings.  Something,  however 
— something  deep  within  his  own  being — some- 
thing that  he  cannot  either  fathom  or  silence  within 
his  heart,  whispers,  at  all  events  when  the  man  is 
quiet  and  away  from  the  world's  din,  that  his  body, 
after  all,  may  not  be  the  whole  of  himself;  some- 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF  211 

thing  whispers  that  his  material  frame  is  not  the 
thinking,  living  self.  It  would  be  a  hard  task  to 
persuade  him  in  the  calmness  of  the  night,  or  on  a 
sick  bed,  or  in  trouble,  that  memory  is,  after  all, 
only  a  mode  of  motion,  love  a  mode  of  motion,  hate 
and  jealousy  only  a  conflict  of  atoms.  Nor  can  a 
fair  and  prudent  man  overlook  the  fact  that  in  all 
ages  the  wisest  and  best  men,  from  Socrates  and 
Plato  downwards,  have  believed  and  have  taught 
that  there  is  an  after  life  of  the  man's  real  being 
in  the  unseen  world  ;  memory,  knowledge,  affection, 
all  active  there  in  that  unseen  world,  only  in  a  more 
exalted,  freer  condition.  This  all  good  and  wise 
men  of  old  hoped  for,  but  confessed  it  was  not  more 
than  a  hope.  They  groped  for  certainty,  if,  happily, 
they  might  find  it.  Plato,  in  one  of  his  most  touch- 
ing dialogues,  concluded  that  it  was  safe  for  a  man  to 
pray  to  God,  and  he  expressed  his  conviction  that 
one  day  God  would  send  some  teacher  on  earth, 
who  should  instruct  men  as  to  prayer  and  immor- 
tality. And  observe  what,  after  all,  makes  this 
question  of  a  future  life,  this  question  of  the 
whither,  of  so  much  importance  to  us,  is  because 
man  certainly  is  a  part  of  some  great  scheme,  and 
the  question  comes,  "  If  after  death  he  continues 
to  live  on,  under  this  great  scheme,  what  will  his 
condition  then  be  ?  "  If  the  scheme  of  human  life, 
after  death,  at  all  resembles  the  present  scheme  in 


2 1 2  DIFFICUL  TIES  IN  BELIEF 

which  we  Hve — resembles  it  in  its  essence,  and  not 
in  its  accidents — then  the  consequences  of  actions 
will  follow  the  living  man  ;  and  although  in  the 
present  scheme,  no  doubt,  bad  men  rise  sometimes 
to  eminence,  and  good  men  are  sometimes  over- 
looked, yet  after  all,  even  in  this  world,  the  essence 
of  the  course  of  things  is  that  no  bad  man  is  in  this 
world  rewarded  because  he  is  a  bad  man  ;  nor  is 
a  good  man  depressed  or  punished  simply  on 
account  of  his  virtue.  Nay,  the  contrary  is  the 
general  tendency  of  things  even  in  this  world. 
And  in  this  way  hopes  and  fears  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  scheme  in  which  man,  after  death, 
may  have  to  live,  are  natural  ;  or,  rather,  are  un- 
avoidable to  man.  He  cannot  avoid  this  hop- 
ing or  fearing.  But,  after  all,  these  are  hopes 
alone  and  fears  alone — they  are  not  sure  and 
certain  hope.  Nature,  the  things  around  us, 
tell  us  little  or  nothing  as  to  a  world  beyond  the 
grave.  The  Nature  within  us  gives  us,  indeed, 
longings  ;  gives  us  uneasiness,  hopes,  fears,  and 
probabilities  ;  but  it  gives  us  nothing  more. 
Now,  amidst  this  darkness,  amidst  this  dim 
suggestive  light  of  Nature,  history  comes  in  :  a 
history  the  general  facts  of  which  it  is  impossible 
to  deny  ;  no  true,  no  sane  man,  ever  did  deny  the 
general  features  and  the  general  scope  of  the 
records  of  Christ's  life.      I  am  not  speaking  of  the 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF  213 

details,  but  the   fact   simply  of  the   life   and   the 
death    of    Christ.        He    certainly   did    live — He 
certainly  did   teach  —  He  certainly  died  upon   the 
Cross.      The  history  states  that  about  two  thousand 
years  ago  there  appeared  a  man   upon   the  earth, 
reared    among    a    most    singular     people,    whose 
singularity  remains  unmistakeable  to   the   present 
hour,  for  no  man  can  mistake  the  physiognomy  of 
a  Jew.      This  wonderful  man  unquestionably  spoke 
and    taught    as    no    man    had    ever    spoken    and 
taught  before.      That   is    a    matter  of  fact.      His 
sayings   and   His  teachings  remain  among   us    to 
this   day,  and   they  have   changed   and   improved 
the  habits   and  ways   of  thought  of  the   civilised 
world.      The    records    of  this   wonderful    Teacher 
leave  no  doubt  that   His  character  was   incompar- 
ably the  most  virtuous  and  exalted  that  had  ever 
been    exhibited    before    men.       He    went    about 
doing  good  ;  that  is   a  certain   matter   of  history. 
The  record  further  states  of  Him   that   He,  at   all 
events,  claimed  to   be   sent  forth   from   the   Lord 
and  Governor  of  the  Universe,  in   order   that    He 
might  make    known   the  will    of  that    Lord   and 
Governor   as    respects   man,   and   as   respects  the 
destiny  that  awaits  him  in  the  unseen  world   after 
death.      The  record  states   that   He  claimed  to  be 
the  Son  of  God  in   a   strong   and   intimate   sense, 
such  as  no  being  before  or  since  has  ever  claimed. 


2 1 4  DIFFIC  UL  TIES  IN  BEL  lEF 

He  plainly  taught  the  immortality  of  the  soul — a 
revelation  only  hoped  for  by  Socrates  and  Plato, 
and  by  the  best  among  the  ancient  sages.  He 
taught  that  God  was  our  Father,  and  that  He 
sought  for  His  earthly  children's  love.  "  God," 
said  He,  "  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  but  in  every 
nation  he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  righteous- 
ness is  accepted  of  Him."  And  again,  "  God  is  a 
Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship 
Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ;  for  the  Father  seeketh 
such  to  worship  Him."  Now  it  is  quite  certain 
that  no  other  teacher  or  prophet  had  ever  before, 
in  the  course  of  the  world's  history,  laid  such 
claim  to  a  filial  relationship  to  God.  He  plainly 
declared  that  He  was  more  than  man.  But  where 
was  the  proof  of  this  new,  this  hitherto  unheard 
of  claim  ?  To  say  that  He  taught  more  wisely 
than  any  man  had  ever  taught  before  amounts  to 
no  more  (but  it  amounts  to  no  less)  than  this — 
that  He  was  the  wisest  of  all  human  teachers. 
But  if  He  be  more  than  man,  then,  of  necessity, 
He  was  stronger  and  more  powerful  than  man  ; 
and  the  only  way  to  make  good  that  claim  was  to 
exhibit  superhuman  power,  and,  I  may  add,  super- 
human goodness  also.  And  so,  in  fact,  the  record 
tells  us  that  He  went  about  doing  wonderful  works 
of  goodness  and  love.  He  healed  sick  men,  the 
record  tells  us  he  healed  them  at  a  word ;  at  a  word. 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF  215 

the  record  says,  He  made  the  dumb  to  speak,  and 
the  deaf  to  hear  :  by  His  voice,  it  says.  He  hushed 
the  storm,  and  there  was  a  great  cahn.  He  is  said 
to  have  raised  a  poor  widow's  only  son  to  life, 
and  to  have  restored  the  friend  that  He  loved  to 
the  affectionate  family  who,  above  all  others,  had 
shown  Him  a  reverential  respect.  Now,  let  us 
remember  that  He  said  Himself  that  He  was 
superhuman  ;  He  claimed  to  be  more  than  a  man. 
But  where  was  the  use  or  the  truth  of  such  a  claim 
if  He  who  made  the  claim  did  not  prove  His 
words  by  deeds  ?  Such  a  claim,  apart  from  the 
exhibition  of  superhuman  power,  would  have  been 
— I  dare  not  say  ridiculous  or  preposterous — but 
it  would  have  been,  at  least,  puzzling,  inconsistent. 
There  would  have  been  a  missing  link  had  this 
wonderful  Being  shown  no  wonderful  superhuman 
work — if  he  had  exhibited  no  miracles,  as  we  call 
them.  Further  still,  the  record  says  that  Christ 
Himself  appealed  strongly  to  His  wonderful  works 
— all  of  these  works,  works  of  love  and  mercy,  let 
us  remember.  "  If  ye  believe  not  my  words, 
believe  my  works."  "  If  I  had  not  done  among 
them  things  that  none  other  men  have  done,  they 
would  not  have  had  sin  "  in  rejecting  me. 

Now  it  has  been  alleged — and  here  lies  the 
gist  of  all  my  remarks — that  this  record  of  Christ 
cannot    be     reasonably    believed,    because     these 


21 6  DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF 

miracles  are  utterly  contrary  to  the  laws  of  Nature. 
There  must  be  some  grievous  mistake,  some  error 
or  misrepresentation,  accidental  or  intentional,  in 
the  record,  it  is  said  ;  for  Nature  is  uniform  in 
her  operations.  The  operations  of  Nature,  it  is 
urged,  go  upon  a  fixed  plan,  and  it  is  contrary  to 
all  Nature,  it  is  said,  that  diseases  should  be  cured 
at  a  word,  or  the  dead  restored  to  life  at  human  com- 
mand. This  is  contrary  to  all  experience,  contrary 
to  the  order  and  the  laws  of  Nature.  The  record, 
it  is  argued,  is,  on  that  account,  certainly  at 
fault. 

Now  it  is  here  then  that  the  issue  is  joined. 
It  is  strongly  and  confidently  affirmed  that  the 
miracles  recorded  of  Christ  are  contrary  to  the 
uniform  laws  of  Nature  ;  and  this  contrariety  is 
alleged  as  an  unanswerable  argument  against 
Christianity.  To  this,  I  think,  I  have  a  most  valid, 
satisfactory,  and  complete  reply.  I  would  ask, 
for  instance,  what  is  this  NATURE,  of  whose 
laws  you  say  that  the  miracles  of  Christ  are 
violations  ?  Surely  by  Nature  must  be  meant  all 
that  exists,  or  has  existed,  or  can  exist,  whether 
in  the  universe  of  matter  or  the  universe  of  thought ; 
seen,  or  unseen.  Whatever  actually  is,  is  a  part 
of  Nature.  And  what  are  these  laws  of  Nature 
which  we  so  strongly  appeal  to  }  By  the  laws  of 
Nature  I   can   only  properly  mean   the  scheme  or 


DIFFIC  UL  TIES  IN  BELIEF  1 1 7 

the  plan  on  which  things  are  constructed  and  are 
carried  on.  A  small  part,  and  a  very  small  part 
only  of  this  scheme,  man  becomes  acquainted  with  ; 
enough  only  whereby  to  regulate  his  own  life. 
He  knows  the  law  of  gravitation,  for  instance  ; 
that  all  material  bodies  attract  each  other,  after  a 
fashion  ;  and,  mark  you,  he  knows  even  this  little 
part  of  the  scheme  of  Nature  simply  because 
under  like  circumstances  like  events  have  taken 
place.  He  knows  some  little  also  of  the  laws  of 
heat  and  of  light,  because  he  finds  again  that  under 
the  same  circumstances  the  same  phenomena  of 
light  and  of  heat  occur.  No  human  physician  has 
ever  been  known  to  cure  a  disease  by  a  word — ' 
but  by  a  dose  of  quinine  certain  fevers  have  been 
uniformly  allayed.  These,  then,  are  parts  of  the 
law,  parts  of  the  scheme  or  plan  of  natural  things 
as  far  as  we  see  them.  Remember,  it  is  alone  from 
observing  that  certain  circumstances  have  hitherto 
always  followed  certain  others,  that  any  law  of  the 
plan  of  Nature  is  arrived  at,  or  even  guessed  at. 
There  must  be  many,  many  repetitions — repetitions 
of  like  concurrent  circumstances,  else  no  law  or  plan 
in  the  scheme  of  Nature  is,  or  can  be,  discoverable. 
Now  tell  me,  how  often  has  a  Being  come 
among  us,  claiming  to  tell  us  from  the  unknown 
world  what  it  concerns  us  beyond  all  things  to 
know,  but  which  without   such  message  cannot  be 


2 1 8  DIFFIC  UL  TIES  IN  BELIEF 

known  ?  Such  an  event  has  occurred  but  once  in 
the  world's  history.  If  such  a  Being  did  proceed 
from  the  unknown  world  He  would  bear,  He  must 
bear,  superhuman  tokens  with  Him;  and  this  is  just 
what  the  record  says  He  did.  The  message,  the 
claim,  the  environments  are  itnique  in  the  world's 
history  ;  and  the  record  says  He  performed 
superhuman  acts.  The  sequence  of  the  environ- 
ments, the  miracles,  that  is,  cannot  be  foreseen  or 
judged  of,  if  not  immoral.  The  whole  question, 
in  fact,  is  a  question  of  the  veracity  of  the  history ; 
it  is  not  a  question  of  experience,  not  a  question 
of  the  law  of  the  scheme  of  Nature.  This 
scheme  of  Nature  is,  as  I  have  said,  far  too  vast 
for  us  to  form  notions  of,  excepting  so  far  as  what 
comes  daily  and  repeatedly  —  repeatedly  before 
our  eyes.  Think  oi  the  innumerable  suns  and 
worlds  of  which  I  spoke  last  night,  and  of  the  still 
more  marvellous  world  of  atoms  in  the  little  box 
of  air.  The  truth  is  that  as  to  the  scheme  of 
Nature,  as  to  the  plan  of  the  universe,  we  must  be 
content  to  be  learners,  not  critics  ;  still  less  can  we 
be  prophets.  We  have  no  valid  reason  whatever 
to  say  of  this  event,  or  of  that,  that  it  is  contrary 
to  the  laws  of  Nature,  until  we  have  had  repeated 
and  repeated  experience  that  the  alleged  mira- 
culous event  did  not  happen  under  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  in  point. 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF  219 

Now,  amidst  all  the  centuries  of  man's  sin,  and 
of  man's  ignorance,  and  oi  man's  suffering,  and  of 
man's  longing  to  be  freed  from  sin  and  ignorance 
and  suffering,  never  but  once  has  there  appeared  on 
this  earth  a  Being  who  said  that  He  came  from  the 
unseen  world,  as  the  Son  of  God,  for  the  purpose 
of  delivering  man  from  his  ignorance,  and  sorrow, 
and  degradation.  Once  for  all,  this  wonderful 
Being  proclaimed  immortality  to  man  :  He  pro- 
claimed, once  for  all,  that  God  loves  and  seeks  for 
the  love  of  His  creatures  on  earth.  Once  for  all, 
the  record  says  that  He  performed  almost  cease- 
less acts  of  superhuman  power  ;  but,  be  it  observed, 
these  all  were  acts  as  remarkable  for  their  love  as 
they  were  for  their  wonderful  power.  Once  for 
all,  the  record  says,  this  wonderful  Man  died  upon 
the  Cross  for  the  sin  of  man.  Once  for  all,  the 
record  says,  He  rose  from  the  dead  in  token  of  a 
sure  and  certain  hope  of  our  resurrection  also. 
The  advent  of  this  solitary,  of  this  unique  Man, 
stands  alone  as  the  most  momentous  event  in  the 
world's  history.  You  may,  if  you  see  good  reason, 
question  the  truth  of  the  history  ;  you  may,  nay 
you  ought  to  examine  and  criticise  the  truth  of 
the  record,  if  you  have  really  the  means  of  so 
doing  at  your  disposal  ;  but  there  is  another  thing 
that  you  cannot  with  any  show  of  reason  do,  and 
that  is,  you   cannot   declare    that    the   miraculous 


220  DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF 

history  of  Christ  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  Nature. 
You  must  understand  all  the  plan,  all  the  scheme 
of  Nature  before  you  can  say  of  such  a  history 
that  it  violates  its  laws.  If  the  history  be  true,  it 
is  itself  a  part  of  the  scheme  of  Nature,  and  such 
it  claims  to  be.      //  claims  to  be  natural. 

Now,  my  friends,  I  will  propose  to  you  a  test 
of  the  truth  of  this  wonderful  Gospel,  this  good 
news  of  God's  love  to  man,  which  test  every  one 
of  yourselves  may  apply.  Christ  in  this  history, 
in  this  Gospel  recorded  once  for  all,  promises 
peace  of  mind  ;  he  promises  virtue  in  life  and  a 
loving  heart  to  any  man  who  will  try  to  live  the 
life  that  He  enjoins,  and  in  the  way  that  He 
demands.  The  offer  and  the  promise  are  open 
and  free  to  all  men — free  as  the  air  we  live  in. 
"  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  travail  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  The  chief,  the 
proper,  the  universal  test  of  the  truth  of  Christianity 
then,  lies  in  the  two  little  words — Try  it.  Try  if 
it  be  a  law  of  Nature  ;   try  it. 

I  come  now  to  a  necessarily  very  brief  discus- 
sion of  the  second  subject  of  my  promised  address 
to  you — to  the  question  of  prayer  to  God.  You 
need  not  me  to  tell  you  this  is  a  very  solemn 
question.  I  know  there  have  been  men  who  call 
themselves,  and  are  called  by  some  others,  philo- 
sophers, who  treat  the  bare  thought  of  prayer  with 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF  221 

disdain.  They  tell  you  that  the  laws  of  Nature 
are  fixed  and  unalterable,  and  that  no  amount  of 
childish  entreaty  can  stay  the  fall  of  a  house,  if 
the  foundation  be  rotten  ;  or  the  course  of  the 
cholera,  if  the  habits  of  the  people  be  not  clean. 
They  ridicule  the  idea  of  so  poor  a  thing  as  man 
changing  the  purposes  of  the  Supreme  Ruler  ot 
the  Universe,  at  the  importunity  of  an  impatient 
wish.  The  laws  of  Nature  will  and  must  take 
their  course.  One  among  these  materialistic 
philosophers  has  illustrated  his  objection  by  point- 
ing to  a  flower.  There  may  come,  he  said,  a 
storm,  born  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  that  storm 
itself  preceded  by  certain  inevitable  changes  there, 
which  shall  sweep  across  the  land,  and  the  hour 
and  the  moment  are  fated  when  and  where  that 
flower  shall  be  thrown  upon  the  ground.  All  the 
prayers  of  a  nation  could  not,  he  says,  prevent  the 
storm  or  the  falling  of  a  single  petal.  So  our 
philosopher  says.  But  we  shall  presently  see  how 
far  all  such  objection  to  prayer  can  be  removed. 
First  of  all,  then,  the  real  object,  the  real  nature 
of  prayer  is  mis-stated  by  our  philosopher :  to 
that  I  will  revert  soon.  And  as  to  these  laws  of 
Nature  being  fixed  and  unalterable,  I  reply,  it 
probably  may  be,  or  is  so.  But  what  are  these 
laws  of  that  vast,  immeasurable,  incomprehensible 
scheme  of  Nature  to  which  you  appeal  ?     Do  you 


222  DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF 

in  reality  know  these  laws,  all  of  them  ?  Nature  is 
too  large  a  scheme  for  you  to  grasp.  Do  you  know 
so  much  the  origin  and  final  issue  of  any  one  thing? 
And  what  do  you  know  of  the  action  of  Mind 
and  of  Will  in  Nature  ?  If  there  be  a  Supreme 
mind,  a  governing  intelligence,  how  do  you  know 
that  the  relations  between  my  mind  and  those  of 
the  Supreme  mind  may  not  be  changed  :  changed 
by  an  alteration  in  mine,  and  that  consequences 
untold  and  untellable  by  man  may  not  ensue  ? 
And  as  to  the  petals  of  the  flower  which  are 
doomed  to  fall  by  the  storm,  born  days  or  weeks 
before  in  the  Atlantic — are  you  so  sure  it  must 
fall  ?  What  if  a  friendly  hand,  guided  by  a  friendly 
mind,  interposed  a  screen  ?  What  if  my  neigh- 
bour had  built  up  a  haystack  before  the  storm 
arose  ?  What  then  of  the  falling  flower  and  the 
storm  born  in  the  Atlantic. 

But  then,  again,  we  reply  :  You  mistake  the 
nature  of  the  true  prayer  of  the  Christian.  Prayer 
does  not  consist  in  childish,  importunate  requests 
to  the  Governor  of  the  Universe.  That  wonderful 
Teacher,  more  than  human,  who  set  us  an  example 
that  we  should  follow  His  steps,  passed  a  whole  life 
of  prayer  ;  but  that  prayer  was,  not  that  the  stones 
might  be  made  bread,  to  appease  His  hunger  ; 
was  not  that  He  might  be  held  up,  if  He  cast 
Himself  down  from  a  precipice  ;   that  prayer  was 


DIFFICUL  TIES  IN  BEIIEF  223 

not  that  in  His  agony  He  might  be  taken  off  the 
Cross  ;  but  it  was,  "  Father,  not  My  will,  but 
Thine  be  done."  "  Not  as  I  will,  but  as  Thou 
wilt."  That,  after  all,  is  the  true  model  of  the 
true  Christian's  prayer.  Not  simply,  may  the 
cholera  be  stayed,  or  the  storm  be  appeased,  or 
the  rain  or  the  drought  be  removed  ;  but  the 
wiser  prayer  w^ould  be,  "  Father,  not  our  will,  but 
Thine  be  done  ;  if  it  be  possible,  relieve  us  ; 
if  not,  impart  to  us  resignation  to  Thy  decree." 
For,  observe,  the  law  of  prayer  is  not  that  we 
are  necessarily  to  obtain  the  very  thing  which 
it  may  be,  after  all,  unwise  for  us  to  ask,  or 
noxious  for  us,  or  impossible  ;  but  the  law  of  the 
promise  attached  to  the  Christian's  prayer  is, 
"  Peace  of  mind  ;  peace  of  mind."  The  Christian 
doctrine  of  prayer  is  this,  "  In  everything,  by 
prayer  and  thanksgiving,  let  your  requests  be 
made  known  unto  God,"  and  then  what  is  to 
follow  ?  Is  it  promised  that  every  request  shall 
be  granted  ?  Ah  !  no.  What  bitter  calamities 
w^ould  then  be  the  issue  of  some  of  our  ignorant, 
passionate,  foolish  prayers.  No  ;  He  who  bids 
us  "  Pray  without  ceasing  "  is  wiser  to  us  than  we 
to  ourselves.  The  injunction  is,  "  In  everything 
with  prayer  and  thanksgiving  let  your  requests 
be  made  known  unto  God,"  and  the  promise  is, 
"  and    the    Peace    of    God,    which    passeth    all 


224  DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF 

understanding,  shall  fill  and  keep  your  hearts." 
And  again,  "Thou  shalt  keep  him  in  perfect 
peace  whose  mind  is  stayed  on  God."  So  when 
the  mother,  as  she  hears  the  howling  of  the  storm, 
offers  up  a  prayer  to  the  Eternal  Father  that  He 
would  preserve  her  sailor  boy,  then  tossing  upon 
the  waves,  she  cannot,  or  should  not  really  mean 
that  God  should  interpose  His  power  and  hush 
the  winds  on  her  behalf;  but  her  heart's  true 
meaning  is  that  God  may  appease  her  fears,  and 
give  her  strength  and  peace  of  mind  to  abide  the 
issue.  So  her  heart's  true  prayer  is  heard, 
whether  her  sailor  boy  survives  the  storm  or  no. 
In  point  of  fact,  the  true,  the  main  object  of  the 
Christian's  prayer  is  the  intercommunication  of 
his  own  spirit  with  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  and, 
through  this  intercommunication,  to  beget  at 
length  resemblance  to  that  Spirit.  A  high  and 
a  mighty  and  a  most  wonderful  privilege.  Since 
the  world  was,  in  any  of  the  religions  of  the 
world  not  Christian,  in  any  of  the  teachings  of 
the  philosophers,  hath  it  ever  been  heard  that  the 
Lord  of  the  Universe  has  said,  "  Thou  sJialt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  ? — not  only  fear  and  obey,  but 
actually  and  sincerely  love,  the  Lord  thy  God, 
with  all  thy  heart."  Love  Him  as  a  Father, 
plead  with  Him  as  a  son,  trust  Him  as  an  infant 
nestles    in    its    mother's   arms    and    fears    no  evil. 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  BELIEF  225 

That,  that,  my  friends,  is  true  communion  with 
God,  that  is  Christian  prayer,  that  is  Christian 
faith  ;  that  is — shall  I  say  it  ? — that  is  the  great, 
the  wonderful  Law  of  Nature,  as  the  Author  of 
that  Nature  has  Himself  framed  it.  Obey  that 
Law.  Try  whether  it  be  the  law  or  not.  Try 
it  ;  and  so,  "  Lift  up  your  hearts." 


IX 


THE    MIRACLE    IN    JOSHUA— 
THE    BATTLE    OF    BETH-HORON 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON 

It  will  be  remembered  by  at  least  a  few  of 
the  more  elderly  of  the  readers  of  the  Guardian 
that  some  years  ago  I  rescued  the  great  miracle 
of  the  Star  of  the  Magi  from  an  attempt  to 
explain  it,  or  explain  it  away,  by  a  reference  to 
the  natural  cause  of  an  ordinary  astronomical 
phenomenon,  taken  advantage  of  by  the  Provi- 
dence of  God.^  The  thought  is  said  to  have 
originated  with  that  truly  great  astronomer  Kepler, 
who  assigned  the  phenomenon  of  the  Star  of  the 
Magi  to  a  remarkable  conjunction  of  the  planets 
Jupiter  and  Saturn.  Perhaps  it  may  be  here 
advisable  to  remark  that  the  technical  phrase 
"  conjunction "  does  not  necessarily  imply  any 
very  close  proximity.  It  was  indeed  a  consider- 
able feat  for  Kepler,  in  his  day,  to  compute  the 
circumstances  of  a  phenomenon  which  had  oc- 
curred so  many  centuries  before ;  but  not  having 
the  proper  means  and  methods  at  his  disposal,  he 

^  Repeated  from  Essay  X. 


230  THE  BA  TTLE  OF  BETH-HORON 

assigned  a  much  closer  proximity  to  the  two 
planets  than  the  true  state  of  the  case  warranted. 
The  suggested  explanation  was  first  brought  to 
public  notice  in  England  by  the  late  Dean  Alford, 
who,  from  the  German  authorities  to  which  he 
referred,  stated  that  the  two  planets  appeared  in 
the  heavens  so  close  together  that  to  ordinary 
eyes  they  formed  a  single  star  of  surpassing 
brightness,  and  in  this  condition  "  stood  over  the 
place  where  the  young  child  was."  I  was  struck 
with  this  account,  but  I  somewhat  doubted  its 
accuracy.  Happily,  as  one  result  of  my  old 
Cambridge  education,  I  was  enabled  to  set  to 
work  and  compute  for  my  own  satisfaction  the 
exact  position  of  the  two  planets  throughout 
several  years  contiguous  to  B.C.  6.  Accordingly, 
I  found  in  that  year  three  conjunctions  of  the 
two  planets,  one  of  which  was  visible  at  Jerusalem  ; 
and  the  two  preceding  conjunctions  might  also 
have  been  watched  by  travellers  during  their  slow 
and  distant  journey  from  the  remote  East  to 
Jerusalem.  Perhaps  it  ought  here  to  be  mentioned 
that  the  orbits  and  motions  of  the  two  planets  are 
such  that  in  certain  recurring  epochs  three  con- 
junctions must  take  place  in  one  and  the  same 
year.  This  certainly  was  the  case  in  the  year 
B.C.  6.  But  after  careful  calculation  I  found  that 
the  two  planets  could  not  have  approached  nearer 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON  231 

than  by  two  apparent  diameters  of  the  moon — a  dis- 
tance which  precluded  the  possibility  of  their  ap- 
pearing to  form  a  single  star.  Independently  of  this, 
it  was  easy  to  show  that  no  known  astronomical 
phenomenon  could  accord  with  the  statement  that  it 
stood  over  any  particular  house  in  Bethlehem  ;  and 
as  to  the  two  planets  in  question,  if  the  direction 
of  the  apparent  motion  of  the  two  planets  during 
an  evening  had  been  followed  by  the  Magi,  they 
would  have  been  led,  not  to  the  hill  of  Bethlehem, 
but  more  probably  into  the  pools  of  Solomon ! 
Thus  the  great  miracle  which  ushered  in  human 
redemption  remains  undiluted  by  any  known  or 
knowable  causes  connected  with  such  laws  of 
Nature  as  those  with  which  we  have  to  do.  The 
details  relating  to  the  preceding  investigations 
will  be  found  in  the  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  in  the 
two  articles  headed  "  Star  of  the  Magi "  and 
"Jesus  Christ,"  and  the  technical  parts  of  them 
are  recorded  in  a  memoir  printed  in  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society,  vol.  xxv. 

The  great  question  of  miracles  in  general 
remains  still  to  be  discussed  ;  but  I  think  an 
interesting  contribution  towards  it  will  be  found 
in  a  paper  which  I  read  a  few  years  ago  before 
the  Church  Congress  at  Swansea.^ 

Strange    to    say,  there    has    again,    and    very 

1  Essay  X. 


232  THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON 

recently,  cropped  up  another  attempt  to  explain 
— though  I  am  far  from  saying  to  explain  away 
— another  of  the  most  important  and  sublime 
among  the  miracles  recorded  in  the  Bible,  by  a 
reference  to  natural  causes — in  this  case  to  an 
increase  in  the  intensity  or  amount  of  atmospheric 
refraction.  I  refer  to  remarks  which,  though  they 
in  fact  originated  many  years  ago,  have  again 
reappeared  in  popular  treatises.  In  this  case 
they  apply  to  that  sublimest  of  narratives 
contained  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  the  Book  of 
Joshua  :  — "  Then  spake  Joshua  to  the  Lord 
in  the  sight  of  Israel  ;  Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon 
Gibeon,  and  thou,  Moon,  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon. 
So  the  sun  stood  still  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  and 
hasted  not  to  go  down  about  a  whole  day." 

Before  I  proceed  to  show  that  no  amount  of 
increase  in  atmospheric  refraction  could  in  the 
slightest  degree  explain  the  marvellous  phenomena 
of  the  sun  and  the  moon  standing  still  for  "  about 
a  whole  day,"  or  even,  as  our  author  adds,  for 
"  perhaps  some  hours  after  they  have  set,"  or  even 
for  a  single  hour,  it  will  be  necessary  for  the 
reader  to  recall  the  singularly  interesting  circum- 
stances of  Joshua's  battle  of  Beth-horon.  The 
materials  for  the  history  may  be  found  partly  in 
Dean  Stanley's  Sinai  and  Palestijie,  partly  in  Dr. 
Robinson's  Researches  in  Palestine,  vol.  ii.,  section 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON  233 

13,  June  9,  and  partly  by  consulting  the  seven- 
teenth sheet  of  the  magnificent  Atlas  of  the 
Palestine  Exploration  Fund.  We  may  thereby 
follow  the  heroic  captain  of  the  hosts  almost  mile 
by  mile  along  the  road  which  led  from  Gibeon, 
through  the  two  Beth-horons,  down  to  the  valley 
of  Ajalon,  and  then  back  to  the  caves  where  he 
slew  the  five  kings,  and,  in  fact,  throughout  that 
most  memorable  day,  of  which  it  is  truly  said, 
"  There  was  no  day  like  that,  before  it  or  after 
it,  that  the  Lord  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  a 
man."  In  order  clearly  to  understand  the  sublimity 
of  the  miracle  and  the  utter  futility  of  the  explaining 
it  in  the  slightest  degree  by  any  increase  in  the 
intensity  of  atmospheric  refraction,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  follow  the  flight  of  the  discomfited 
Amorites  from  Gibeon  to  Ajalon.  Nor  will  the 
reader  find  it  without  its  interest. 

It  will  be  remembered,  then,  that  the  Israelites 
had  recently  crossed  the  Jordan  in  early  spring  ; 
they  were  now  encamped  at  Gilgal,  between 
Jericho  and  the  Jordan,  about  two  or  three  miles 
from  the  latter.  Gibeon  lay  at  a  distance  of  about 
twelve  miles  to  the  west  of  Gilgal,  and  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  former  city  had,  through  a  stratagem, 
made  their  well-known  compact  with  Joshua. 
After  the  invasion  of  the  country  and  the  fall  of 
Jericho,  the  kings  or  sheikhs  of  South  Palestine  had 


234  THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH- HO  RON 

naturally  banded  together  with  a  view  of  taking 
vengeance  on  Gibeon,  and  of  expelling  the  invader 
from  the  land.  Accordingly  they  were  now 
encamped  in  full  force  near  to  Gibeon,  which  city 
they  would  infallibly  have  soon  destroyed,  and 
from  thence  march  on  to  do  battle  with  Joshua. 

The  Gibeonites  in  their  terror  appealed  to 
Joshua  for  instant  aid  ;  the  peril  and  the  crisis 
were  great,  and  equally  great  they  were  for  the 
nation  of  Israel  itself,  seeing  that,  if  defeated  either 
at  Gibeon  or  at  Gilgal,  they  would  be  chased  across 
Jordan,  and  probably  be  exterminated.  Thus 
a  battle  decisive  in  the  world's  history  was  at 
hand,  if  ever  there  was  a  "  decisive  battle  "  in  the 
world.  Joshua,  perceiving  the  full  significance  of 
the  situation,  at  once  set  off  from  Gilgal  with  his 
army  ;  and  marching  by  night  with  haste  through 
those  heavy  twelve  miles,  arrived  at  early  dawn, 
or  before  the  dawn,  under  the  walls  of  Gibeon, 
just  as  the  British  forces  marched  by  night  to  the 
works  of  Tel-el-Kebir.  The  Canaanites  were  evi- 
dently surprised,  as  the  Arabs  in  Egypt  were. 
How  long  or  how  hardly  they  resisted  is  not 
recorded  ;  but,  in  the  sequel,  they  fled  from 
Gibeon  along  the  road  which  leads  towards  the 
two  Beth-horons,  just  as  the  Arabs  fled  from  Tel- 
el-Kebir  towards  Zagazig.  It  is  not,  however,  so 
much   with    the   surprise    or   the   fight   at    Gibeon 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON  235 

that  we  have  now  to  do,  as  with  the  nature  and 
direction  of  the  road  along  which  the  confederated 
Canaanites  fled.  It  was  probably  the  same  road 
along  which  the  Apostle  Paul  was  conducted  from 
Jerusalem  to  Caesarea.  It  bore  mainly  to  the 
west,  but  a  little  to  the  north.  This  direction  of 
the  road  becomes  of  importance  for  the  full  under- 
standing of  the  miracle  which  ensues.  For  about 
six  miles  from  Gibeon  it  was  probably  rough  and 
difficult,  as  Dr.  Robinson  found  it  when  he  tra- 
versed it  some  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  though 
centuries  before  that  the  Romans  had  improved 
it  About  six  miles  from  Gibeon,  at  the  crest  of 
the  hill  over  which  the  road  passes  at  Upper  Beth- 
horon,  it  becomes  a  precipitous  descent  of  some 
seven  hundred  feet  in  about  two  miles  down  to 
Lower  Beth-horon.  It  is  important  to  bear  in 
mind  that  Joshua's  face  had  been  turned  towards 
the  west  and  a  little  to  the  north  when  he  arrived 
at  the  crest  of  the  hill  in  hot  pursuit  of  the  enemy, 
who  were  now  rushing  down  the  sharp  descent  be- 
fore him.  Shall  the  Amorites  even  partially  escape  ? 
Will  there  be  time  left  to  complete  their  destruc- 
tion, or  will  the  terrors  and  hazards  of  that  bloody 
day  have  to  be  repeated  ?  These  were  questions 
naturally  occurring  to  the  mind  of  the  heroic 
captain  as  he  stood  on  the  crest  of  that  fateful 
hill.      From   the  sacred    narrative  we   gather  that 


236  THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON 

Joshua  now  turned  his  face  away  from  the  fugi- 
tives round  towards  Gibeon,  which  had  heretofore 
been  behind  him.  There  stood  the  sun  right  over 
the  hills  of  Gibeon,  between  the  south  and  the 
east,  but  much  nigher  to  the  east.  (Dr.  Robinson, 
in  his  itinerary,  says  that  "  Ajalon  bears  S.  66"" 
W.  from  Upper  Beth-horon  " :  and,  measuring  from 
the  map,  Gibeon  bears  from  the  same  spot  about 
S.  60°  E.)  It  was  now,  therefore,  about  nine 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  that  memorable  day — 
anyhow,  it  could  not  have  been  quite  noon,  as 
Dean  Stanley  supposes,  when  Joshua  stood  looking 
anxiously  at  the  sun.  The  moon,  too,  now  prob- 
ably in  its  third  or  fourth  quarter,  stood  nearly 
west  of  him,  but  a  little  to  the  south,  over  the 
valley  of  Ajalon.  He  would  need  their  light,  if 
his  work  for  the  deliverance  of  Israel  was  to  be 
completed  on  that  day.  How  long  will  the  light 
of  that  day  last.?  So  with  the  voice  of  faith  in 
his  father's  God,  and,  as  Dean  Stanley  says, 
"  With  outstretched  hand  and  spear,  that  hand 
which  he  drew  not  back  when  he  stretched  out 
the  spear,"  he  stands  and  he  cries  in  the  sight  of 
Israel,  "  Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon  ;  and 
thou.  Moon,  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon.  And  the 
Lord  hearkened  to  his  voice,  and  the  sun  stood 
still,  and  the  moon  stayed  until  the  people  had 
avenged    themselves    upon   their    enemies,   and    it 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON  237 

hasted  not  to  go  down  about  a  whole  day."  The 
pursuit  continues  down  the  precipitous  road  to 
Lower  Beth-Horon,  perhaps  two  miles  distant, 
and  downwards  still  towards  the  valley  of  Ajalon, 
six  or  seven  miles  further  on.  Meanwhile  the  five 
kings  endeavour  to  secrete  themselves  in  one  of 
those  caves  which  abound  in  the  country.  Joshua, 
however,  delays  not  for  them  ;  he  orders  the 
mouth  of  the  cave  to  be  closed  and  he  pursues 
the  fugitives  to  their  destruction.  On  his  return, 
before  the  sun  went  down  on  that  protracted  and 
most  memorable  day,  the  five  kings  are  brought 
out  of  their  hiding-place,  and  meet  their  doom. 
Such  was  the  Battle  of  Beth-horon,  and,  under  such 
circumstances,  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  hearken  to  the 
voice  of  a  man,  and  the  sun  and  the  moon  stood  still. 

Now  it  has  been  recently  affirmed  that  "  the 
simple  natural  law  of  atmospheric  refraction  would 
entirely  explaiii  the  events  On  examination 
it  will  be  found  that  this  "  simple  natural  law  " 
will  no  more  explain  the  event  than  the  conjunc- 
tion of  Jupiter  and  Saturn  will  explain  the  miracle 
of  the  Star  of  the  Magi.  Atmospheric  refraction, 
when  really  understood,  will  not  be  found  to  so 
much  as  even  touch  the  miracle. 

The  understanding  and  the  settlement  of  this 
question  require  nothing  more  than  a  very  elemen- 
tary acquaintance  with  the  nature  of  astronomical 


238  THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON 

refraction,  but  that  knowledge  must  be  clear  and 
accurate  as  far  as  it  goes.  The  average  effect, 
then,  of  astronomical  refraction  is  to  very  slightly 
raise  the  celestial  bodies  when  they  are  viewed 
through  our  atmosphere,  but  that  average  effect  is 
so  slight  that  it  requires  a  telescope,  and  generally 
a  micrometer,  in  order  to  be  conscious  of  its  effects. 
When  the  luminary  is  very  close  to  the  horizon,  or 
on  it,  or  just  below  it,  the  sun  or  the  moon  may 
be  raised  vertically  through  an  angular  space  about 
equal  to  their  diameters,  and  slightly  more  if  it 
be  very  cold.  But  these  cases  could  not  occur 
when  Joshua  first  said,  "  Sun,  stand  thou  still," 
for  it  could  not  as  yet  have  been  noon,  and  the 
moon  was  still  over  the  valley  of  Ajalon.  No 
doubt,  if  it  pleased  the  All-wise  Disposer  of  things 
to  increase  the  refractive  power  of  air,  its  capacity 
for  increasing  the  vertical  heigJit  of  a  luminary 
would  be  proportionally  increased ;  but  whatever 
this  increase  of  refractive  power  be,  no  amount  of 
it  could  keep  a  luminary  apparently  still  in  the 
heavens,  for  the  ''simple  natural  laiv  of  atmospJieric 
refraction "  is  to  apparently  move  a  luminary 
vertically  upwards,  and  in  no  degree  whatever  to 
the  right  or  to  the  left  of  a  vertical  line.  (Techni- 
cally, refraction  acts  solely  in  a  vertical  plane,  and 
does  not  in  any  degree  alter  the  Azimuth.)  Hence, 
in   no   conceivable  way  could   refraction   keep  sun 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON  239 

or  moon  apparently  still  in  the  heavens  ;  it  might, 
indeed,  if  altered  egregiously  in  intensity  and  in 
laiv  too,  keep  a  luminary  at  the  same  height  in  the 
heavens  ;  but  it  could  not  keep  it  apparently  still. 
Either  inattention  to,  or  ignorance  of,  this  true 
and  simple  law  of  atmospheric  refraction  must, 
I  submit,  have  given  rise  to  so  very  serious  and 
mischievous  an  error,  especially  lamentable  in 
connection  with  so  sacred  a  subject. 

Further  still,  in  the  case  of  the  sun,  one  simple 
natural  law  of  refraction  must  have  been  actually 
reversed  during  the  first  three  hours  or  so  after  the 
voice  of  Joshua.  For  the  natural  sun  was  then 
rising  in  height,  and,  therefore,  in  order  to  remain 
apparently  still,  refraction  must  have  pulled  it 
down  ! 

In  the  case  of  the  moon  matters  I  fear  would 
be  worse.  For  let  us  observe  that  the  moon  was 
not  far  from  setting ;  if  we  are  to  believe  the 
sacred  narrative  it  must  have  continued,  apparently, 
there  ''for  about  the  space  of  a  ivhole  dayT  If  so, 
before  the  termination  of  that  great  and  notable 
day,  the  natural  moon  must  have  passed  its  lower 
culmination,  and  then  the  effect  of  the  "simple 
natural  law  of  refraction  "  increased  in  intensity, 
would  inevitably  bring  the  moon  up  to  and  above 
the  eastern  horizon,  and  by  no  possibility  over  the 
valley  of  Ajalon — a  dilemma  from  which  I  cannot 


240  THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON 

rescue  it.  Such  then  is  the  fate  of  these  ill-advised 
attempts  to  explain  the  viodiis operandi  of  the  sublime 
miracle  of  the  ever-memorable  day  of  the  Battle  of 
Beth-horon  by  what  is  called  natural  causation, 
however  intensified  in  amount  For  the  causation 
of  miracles  does  not  lie  within  the  action  of  the 
laws  which  ordinarily  appertain  to  this  sublunary 
sphere  of  ours  whereon  our  duties  lie.  On  the 
other  hand,  and  as  I  have  urged  before,  that 
seems  to  me  to  be  the  happiest  form  of  mind, 
which  accepts  the  statements  in  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  in  the  spirit  wherewith  a  child  listens  to 
his  father's  words.  Far  less  happy,  and  probably 
far  less  wise,  is  the  spirit  which  scans  and  criti- 
cises them  as  a  lawyer  reads  a  legal  document. 
To  me  the  records  are,  in  their  general  drift  and 
intention,  substantially  true.  In  the  case  of  the 
Battle  of  Beth-horon,  in  which  the  very  existence 
of  the  Hebrew  nation  was  in  peril,  the  narrative 
may  be  satisfied  in  its  general  drift  and  intention 
by  the  miraculous  continuance  of  daylight  which 
in  a  rude  age,  and  to  Joshua  and  his  host,  might 
seem  to  involve  the  staying  of  the  courses  of  the 
sun  and  moon.  The  Star  of  the  Magi  will  be 
equally  satisfied  in  its  general  drift  and  intention, 
by  the  miraculous  appearance  of  some  divinely 
appointed  light,  shining  as  a  celestial  diadem 
over  the  cradle  of  the  King  of  Kings.      To  each 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON  241 

of  the  two  cases  we  may  safely  apply  the  words 
of  Horace — 

"  Nee  Deus  intersit,  nisi  dignus  vindice  nodus." 

There  is,  however,  another  class  of  what.  In 
some  sense,  may  be  termed  minor  miracles,  which 
have  most  unreasonably  met  with  scorn  and 
ridicule  from  writers  at  whose  hands  we  should 
have  expected  a  graver  mode  of  treatment.  I 
allude  to  such  miracles  as  the  finding  of  the  coin 
in  the  fish's  mouth  ;  the  foretelling  of  the  man 
who  was  to  meet  the  disciples,  bearing  the 
pitcher  of  water  ;  to  the  fire  of  coals  kindled  on 
the  beach  after  their  long  night's  toil  upon  the 
lake.  To  some  minds,  these  may  seem  to  be  but 
trifles  unworthy  of  any  special  interposition.  But 
without  again  entering  upon  the  nature  and 
occasions  of  miracles  already  discussed,  we  may 
use  a  simple  and  more  practical  form  of  argument. 
We  might  fairly  ask  what  would  be  the  effect  of 
the  remembrance  of  such  minute  instances  of  a 
prescient  concern,  upon  the  minds  of  men  like 
Paul  and  Silas  sitting  in  the  prison  with  their 
feet  fast  in  the  stocks  ?  In  a  like  spirit  we  may 
ask  whether  amidst  the  hourly  perils  and  sufferings 
of  the  first  preachers  of  the  Gospel,  the  recol- 
lection of  these  instances  of  a  minute  and  prescient 
carefulness  would  not  recur  to  their  minds   again 


242  THE  BATTLE  OF  BETH-HORON 

and  again,  administering  the  support,  and  confi- 
dence, and  consolation  which  they  so  greatly 
needed  at  every  hour  of  their  mission  ?  When 
our  Master  was  with  us,  did  He  not  share  our 
sufferings  and  foresee  our  needs  ?  And  did  He 
not  say  :  "  I  am  with  you  always,  to  the  end  of 
the  world  "  ? 


X 

THE   STAR   OF    THE   MAGI 


THE  STAR  OF  THE  MAGI 

Until  the  last  few  years  the  interpretation  of 
St.  Matt  xi.  I-I2  by  theologians  in  general 
coincided  in  the  main  with  that  which  would  be 
given  by  any  person  of  ordinary  intelligence  who 
read  the  account  with  due  attention.  The  inter- 
pretation would  be  after  this  fashion  :  some  super- 
natural light  resembling  a  star  had  appeared  in 
some  country  (presumably  Persia),  far  to  the  east 
of  Jerusalem,  to  men  who  were  versed  in  the  study 
of  celestial  phenomena,  conveying  to  their  minds 
an  impulse  to  repair  to  Jerusalem,  where  they 
would  find  a  new-born  king.  It  supposed  them 
to  be  followers  and  possibly  priests  of  the  Zend 
religion,  whereby  they  were  led  to  expect  a 
Redeemer  in  the  person  of  the  Jewish  religion. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  part  of  the  above  account 
of  the  Magi  and  their  country  is  simply  conjectural. 
On  arriving  at  Jerusalem,  after  diligent  inquiry 
and  consultation  with  the  priests  and  learned  men, 
who  naturally  could  best  inform  them,  they  were 


246  THE  STAR  OF  THE  MAGI 

directed  to  proceed  to  Bethlehem.  The  remark 
made  by  the  Evangelist  regarding  the  effect  pro- 
duced in  Jerusalem  by  the  arrival  of  these  strange 
visitors  on  so  strange  a  mission  is  significant  as 
showing  the  publicity  of  the  circumstances  in 
question  :  "  And  when  Herod  the  king  heard  it, 
he  was  troubled  and  all  Jerusalem  with  him." 

The  star  which  they  had  seen  in  the  East  reap- 
peared to  them,  and  preceded  them  until  it  took  up 
its  station  over  the  place  where  the  young  child  was. 

The  whole  proceeding,  that  is,  was  supernatural, 
and  formed  a  part  of  that  divine  prearrangement 
whereby,  in  His  deep  humiliation  among  men, 
the  child  Jesus  was  honoured  and  acknowledged  by 
the  Father  as  His  beloved  Son  in  whom  he  was 
well  pleased.  Thus  the  lowly  shepherds  who 
kept  their  nightly  watch  in  the  plain  at  the  foot 
of  Bethlehem,  equally  and  together  with  all  that 
remained  of  the  highest  and  best  philosophy  of 
the  East,  are  alike  the  witnesses  and  the  partakers 
of  the  glory  of  Him  who  was  born  in  the  city  of 
David,  a  Saviour  which  is  Christ  the  Lord. 

Such  is  substantially  the  account  which,  until 
the  earlier  part  of  the  present  century,  would  have 
been  given  by  orthodox  divines  of  the  Star  of  the 
Magi,  and  there  are  still  the  strongest  grounds  for 
believing  that  such  also  is  substantially  the  correct 
interpretation  of  the  Sacred  Record. 


THE  STAR  OF  THE  MAGI  247 

Latterly,  however,  a  very  different  opinion  has 
gradually  become  prevalent  on  the  subject.  The 
Star  itself,  as  such,  has  been  displaced  from  the 
category  of  a  supernatural  light,  and  has  been 
referred  to  the  ordinary  and  periodical  pheno- 
menon of  a  conjunction  or  near  approach  of  the 
planets  Jupiter  and  Saturn.  This  idea  originated 
with  the  illustrious  astronomer  Kepler,  who,  among 
other  brilliant  but  untenable  fancies,  supposed  that 
if  he  could  identify  a  conjunction  of  the  above- 
named  planets  with  the  apparition  of  the  Star  of 
Bethlehem,  he  would  thereby  be  able  to  establish 
on  the  basis  of  certainty  the  otherwise  very 
obscure  and  difficult  question  as  to  the  exact  date 
of  the  Annus  Domini.  Kepler's  suggestion  was 
worked  out  with  great  care  and  no  very  great  in- 
accuracy by  Dr.  Ideler,  of  Berlin,  and  the  results 
of  his  calculations  do,  on  the  first  impression,  seem 
to  show  a  very  specious  accordance  with  the 
phenomena  narrated  by  the  Evangelist.  I  purpose, 
then,  in  the  first  instance,  to  state  what  astronomical 
phenomena  did  occur  with  respect  to  the  planets 
Jupiter  and  Saturn  at  or  somewhere  about  a  pre- 
sumed date  of  our  Lord's  nativity,  and  then  to 
examine  how  far  they  fulfil  or  fail  to  fulfil  (as  they 
certainly  do  fail)  the  conditions  required  by  the 
narrative  of  St.  Matthew. 

In  the  month  of  May   B.C.  7  {i.e.  about  three 


248  THE  STAR  OF  THE  MAGI 

years  before  the  generally  accepted  date  of  our 
Lord's  nativity)  a  conjunction  or  near  approach  of 
the  planets  Jupiter  and  Saturn  occurred,  not  far 
from  the  first  point  of  Aries,  the  planets  rising,  in 
Chaldea,  some  time  about  three  and  a  half  hours 
before  the  sun. 

It  is  said  that  (on  astrological  grounds)  such 
a  conjunction  could  not  fail  to  excite  the  attention 
of  men  like  the  Magi,  and  that  in  consequence 
partly  of  their  knowledge  of  the  prophecy  of 
Balaam,  and  partly  from  the  uneasy  persuasion 
then  said  to  be  prevalent  that  some  great  one 
was  to  be  born  in  the  East,  these  Magi  thereon 
proceeded  in  their  journey  to  Jerusalem.  In  the 
interests  of  truth  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  how 
much  of  the  above  explanation  is  founded  on  con- 
jecture. Supposing,  however,  that  the  Magi  set 
out  at  the  end  of  May  on  a  journey  which  it  is 
just  conceivable  may  have  occupied  some  seven 
months  or  more,  then  in  the  course  of  that 
journey  they  must  have  seen  the  two  planets 
slowly  separating  from  each  other  until  the  end  of 
July  ;  after  this  date,  their  motions  becoming  retro- 
grade, the  planets  for  a  second  time  came  into  con- 
junction, i.e.  into  their  position  of  closest  approach, 
at  the  end  of  September.  At  that  date,  then,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  two  planets  must  have  pre- 
sented averystriking  spectacle, especiallythrough  an 


THE  STAR  OF  THE  MAGI  249 

atmosphere  which  is  reputed  to  be  so  clear  as  that 
in  the  uplands  of  the  East.  Moreover,  the  planet 
Jupiter  was  then  at  its  most  brilliant  apparition, 
for  it  was  then  at  that  part  of  its  orbit  relatively 
to  the  earth  when  it  would  shine  at  its  brightest. 
Not  far  from  it  would  be  seen  its  duller  and  much 
less  conspicuous  companion,  Saturn.  This  glorious 
astronomical  spectacle  continued  almost  unaltered 
for  several  days,  after  which  the  planets  slowly 
separated  again,  then  came  to  a  halt,  when,  by 
resuming  once  more  a  direct  motion,  Jupiter/*^;'  a 
third  time  approached  to  a  conjunction  with 
Saturn  just  as  the  Magi  may  be  supposed  to  have 
entered  the  Holy  City.  To  complete  the  fascina- 
tion and  the  suggestiveness  of  the  tale,  about  an 
hour  and  a  half  after  sunset  the  two  planets  would 
have  been  seen  hanging,  as  it  were,  in  the  meridian, 
and  suspended  in  the  skies  in  the  direction  of 
Bethlehem  in  the  distance.  These  celestial  pheno- 
mena, thus  described,  do  assuredly,  on  the  first 
impression,  appear  to  fulfil  the  conditions  of  the 
"  Star  of  the  Magi." 

The  first  circumstance  which  created  in  my  own 
mind  a  suspicion  to  the  contrary,  arose  from  an 
exaggeration,  unaccountable  for  any  man  having  a 
claim  to  be  ranked  among  astronomers,  on  the  part 
of  Dr.  Ideler  himself,  who  described  the  two  planets 
as  presenting  the  appearance  of  a  single  bright  but 


250  THE  STAR  OF  THE  MAGI 

diffused  light,  to  persons  having  weak  eyes.  "  So 
dass  fiir  ein  schwaches  Auge  der  eine  Planet  fast 
in  den  Zerstreuungskreis  des  Andern  trat,  mithin 
beide  als  ein  einziger  Stern  erscheinen  konnten  " 
(p.  407,  vol.  ii.)  Not  only  is  this  imperfect  eye- 
sight gratuitously  inflicted  on  the  Magi,  but  it 
is  quite  certain  that  had  they  possessed  any  eye- 
sight at  all,  they  could  not  have  failed  to  see, 
not  a  single  star,  but  two  planets  at  the  very 
sensible  and  considerable  distance  of  double  the 
apparent  diameter  of  the  moon.  Had  they  been 
even  twenty  times  closer,  the  duplicity  of  the  two 
luminaries  must  have  been  apparent ;  Saturn  rather 
confusing  than  adding  to  the  brilliance  of  his 
companion. 

This  forced  blending  of  the  two  lights  into  one  by 
Ideler  was,  strange  to  say,  still  further  exaggerated 
by  Dean  Alford  in  the  first  edition  of  his  Greek 
Testament,  who  indeed  restores  ordinary  sight  to 
the  Magi,  but,  en  revancJic,  represents  the  two 
planets,  thus  in  reality  separated  by  a  space 
occupied  by  two  moons'  diameters  in  the  skies, 
as  a  single  star  of  surpassi^ig  brightness  !  Exag- 
geration of  this  description,  both  on  the  part  of 
the  Astronomer  and  the  Theologian,  induced  the 
writer  of  this  Essay  to  undertake  the  formidable 
task  of  calculating  afresh  an  Ephemeris  of  Jupiter, 
Saturn,    and    the    sun    from    May   to    December 


THE  STAR  OF  THE  MAGI  251 

B.C.  7.  The  result  of  the  investigations  was  to 
confirm  generally  the  facts  of  the  three  conjunc- 
tions during  the  year,  though  somewhat  to  modify 
the  dates  assigned  by  Dr.  Ideler.  Similar  results 
also  have  been  arrived  at  by  Encke,  and  the 
December  conjunction  has  been  verified  by  the 
late  Astronomer- Royal,  Sir  George  Airy,  and 
perhaps  no  astronomical  phenomena  of  ancient 
date  are  so  certainly  and  definitely  ascertained  as 
the  conjunctions  in  question. 

The  next  stage  in  the  investigation  is  to 
inquire  how  far,  independently  of  the  comparatively 
wide  separation  of  the  two  planets  when  at  the 
closest,  their  conjunction  fulfils  in  other  respects 
the  conditions  of  the  narrative,  though  it  is  hard 
to  avoid  a  feeling  of  regret  at  the  dissipation  of 
so  fascinating  an  illusion  ;  but  we  are  in  quest  of 
the  truth,  rather  than  of  a  picture,  however 
beautiful. 

And,  first  of  all,  the  writer  must  confess  himself 
profoundly  ignorant  of  any  system  of  astrology  ; 
but  supposing  that  some  system  did  exist,  it 
nevertheless  is  inconceivable  that  on  astrological 
c^rounds  alone,  men  could  be  induced  to  take  so 
formidable  a  journey  of  so  long  a  duration.  And 
then,  as  to  the  widely  spread  and  prevalent 
expectation  of  some  powerful  personage  about  to 
present  himself  in  the  East,  the  fact  of  its  existence 


252  THE  STAR  OF  THE  MAGI 

is  referred  to  by  the  unimpeachable  testimony  of 
Tacitus,  Suetonius,  and  Josephus.  But  it  ought 
to  be  very  carefully  observed  that  all  these  writers 
concur  in  referring  this  expectation  to  the  advent 
of  Vespasian  in  A.D.  69,  which  date  was  seventy- 
five  years,  or  two  generations,  after  the  visit  of  the 
Magi.  The  well-known  and  oft  quoted  words  of 
Tacitus  are  "Eo  ipso  tempore,"  viz.  A.D.  69  ;  of 
Suetonius  "  Eo  tempore  "  ;  and  of  Josephus  "  Kara 
Tov  KaLpov  eKetvov,"  all  pointing  to  A.D.  69  and 
not  to  B.C.  7.  Seeing,  then,  that  these  writers 
refer  to  no  general  uneasy  expectation  as  prevail- 
ing in  B.C.  7,  it  can  have  formed  no  reason  for  the 
departure  of  the  Magi,  unless  indeed  the  rumour 
had  been  persistent  through  seventy-five  years  ;  in 
which  case  the  "  Eo  ipso  tempore "  of  Tacitus 
would  be  hard  to  explain.  Furthermore,  it  is 
quite  certain  that  in  B.C.  66  (Pritchard,  Travis.  R. 
A  St.  Soc.y  vol.  XXV.)  a  conjunction  of  Jupiter  and 
Saturn  occurred  in  the  constellation  Pisces,  closer 
than  the  one  on  4th  December  B.C.  7.  If,  therefore, 
astrological  considerations  alone  impelled  the  Magi 
to  journey  to  Jerusalem  in  the  latter  instance  (B.C.  7), 
similar  considerations  would  have  impelled  their 
fathers  to  take  the  same  journey  fifty-nine  years 
before  ;  and  if  it  is  conceivable  that  a  knowledge 
of  the  obscure  prophecy  of  Balaam  operated  on 
their  minds,  then  there  is  no  reason  why  the  con- 


THE  STAR  OF  THE  MAGI  253 

junction  phenomena  which  recurred  every  fifty-nine 
years  should  not  have  caused  periodical  journeys 
at  similar  intervals  of  time  ! 

But  even  supposing  that  the  Magi  did  under- 
take this  journey  at  the  time  in  question,  it  seems 
impossible  that  the  conjunction  of  December  B.C. 
7  can  on  any  reasonable  grounds  be  considered  as 
fulfilling  the  conditions  in  St.  Matthew.  The 
circumstances  are  as  follows  :  on  or  close  to  4th 
December  the  sun  set  at  Jerusalem  about  5  p.m. 
Supposing  the  Magi  to  have  then  (or  soon  after) 
commenced  their  journey  to  Bethlehem,  they 
would  first  see  Jupiter  and  his  dull  companion  one 
and  a  half  hour's  distant  from  the  meridian  in  a  S.E. 
direction  and  decidedly  to  the  E.  of  Bethlehem, 
which  village  is  distant  from  Jerusalem  by  about 
a  two  hours'  journey  almost  in  a  southerly  direction 
By  the  time  they  came  to  Rachel's  Tomb  (see 
Robinson's  Bib.  Res.,  xi.  588)  the  planets  would 
be  due  south  of  them,  on  the  meridian,  and  no 
longer  over  the  Hill  of  Bethlehem,  for  as  seen 
from  Rachel's  Tomb  that  hill  bears  S.  i  3°  E.  The 
road  then  takes  a  turn  to  the  east,  and  ascending 
the  hill,  terminates  near  to  its  western  extremity 
(see  the  maps  of  Van  de  Velde,  or  of  the  Palestine 
Exploration  Fund).  The  planets  would  then  be 
on  their  right  hand  and  a  little  behind  them  as 
they   entered    the   village ;    the    "  star,"  therefore, 


254  THE  STAR  OF  THE  MAGI 

would  cease  altogether  to  go  before  them  as  a 
guide,  and  the  case  would  be  worse  if  they  left 
the  Jaffa  gate  at  a  later  hour.  Moreover,  once  on 
the  hill,  even  if  the  star  were  not  behind  them  as 
they  proceeded  along  the  village,  it  would  be 
physically  impossible  for  it  to  stand  ovej'  any  house 
whatever  close  to  them,  seeing  that  it  would  now 
be  visible  far  away  from  the  hill,  on  the  side 
beyond  it  towards  the  west  and  the  south,  at  an 
elevation  of  about  50°  or  more.  As  they 
advanced,  the  star  would  of  necessity  recede 
towards  the  west,  and  under  no  circumstances 
could  be  said  even  to  appear  to  be  over  any  house 
not  distant  by  many  miles  from  the  place  where 
they  were.  Thus  the  two  heavenly  bodies  alto- 
gether fail  to  fulfil  either  of  the  conditions  implied 
in  the  words  "  went  before  them  "  ((hSrjyev  avrovs:), 
or  "  stood  over  the  house  where  the  young  child 
was  "  (eaTaOri  eTrdvco),  and  the  beautiful  phantasm 
of  Kepler  and  Ideler,  which  has  fascinated  so 
many  minds,  vanishes  before  the  light  of  an 
astronomical  examination. 

What  has  heretofore  been  said  in  relation  to  a 
conjunction  of  the  planets  applies  with  equal 
force  to  any  other  celestial  phenomenon  with 
which  astronomers  are  acquainted.  As  for  stars, 
comets,  and  temporary  stars,  they  are  all  so 
exceedingly  distant  from   our  earth  that,  although 


THE  STAR  OF  THE  MAGI  255 

they  may  by  their  direction  guide,  for  a  time,  a 
traveller  towards  a  distant  object,  nevertheless,  as 
that  object  is  approached,  the  star  will  have 
receded  far  away  in  the  distance  beyond  ;  and  if 
the  star  be  vertical  in  the  skies,  or  nearly  so,  it 
will  appear  to  be  equally  over  every  object  in  the 
neighbourhood.  Nor  will  any  meteoric  pheno- 
mena within  scientific  cognisance  fulfil  the  con- 
ditions of  the  sacred  narrative,  for  all  such  bodies 
are  swift  in  their  motions  and  transient  in  their 
duration.  There  remains,  therefore,  but  one 
solution  of  the  apparition  of  the  Star  of  Beth- 
lehem, and  that  solution  does  not  lie  within  the 
category  of  ordinary  astronomical  or  meteoro- 
logical phenomena.  In  its  nature  and  origin  it 
must  have  been  essentially  supernatural  and 
divinely  appointed  to  fulfil  its  mission.  It  shone 
as  a  beacon  and  a  diadem  of  glory  over  the  lowly 
chamber  where  the  young  child  was. 


XI 
THE   CREATION   PROEM  OF  GENESIS 

From  the  Guardian  of  Februaiy  loth,  1886. 


THE    CREATION   PROEM    OF   GENESIS 

The  unexpected  appearance  of  men  so  eminent 
as  an  ex -Premier,  a  President  of  the  Royal 
Society,  and  an  Oxford  Professor  of  Hebrew,  as 
controversialists  in  respect  of  the  meaning  of  the 
sublime  Proem  of  Genesis  is  not  only  a  remark- 
able phenomenon,  but  a  sure  indication  that  no 
satisfactory  solution  of  the  difficulties  in  question 
had  hitherto  been  suggested.  Of  the  latter  fact  I 
(and,  no  doubt,  others  besides  myself)  have  been 
lone  convinced  ;  but  as  very  many  of  my  theo- 
logical  colleagues  appeared  to  think  otherwise,  1 
judged  that  it  was  wiser  not  to  interfere  with 
a  peaceful  fallacy,  and  to  let  the  subject  sleep. 

The  case  is  now  altered,  and  I  propose  to  lay 
before  those  who  care  to  read  them  such  considera- 
tions as  have  occurred  to,  and  have  entirely 
satisfied,  my  own  mind,  after  meditations  on  the 
questions  at  issue,  extending  at  intervals  now 
through   half  a  century.      Perhaps  also  the  oppor- 


26o  THE  CREATION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS 

tunities  which  have,  in  natural  sequence,  presented 
themselves  during  a  long  professional  career  both 
as  a  divine  and  as  a  student  and  expositor  of 
Nature,  may  furnish  a  sufficient  reason  why  I  should 
now  speak,  and  possibly  receive  some  audience. 
In  what  I  am  about  to  say  I  desire  to  use  great 
plainness  of  speech,  and  I  hope  also  simplicity  and 
sincerity  in  the  mode  of  inquiry  for  truth.  I  shall 
aim  at  introducing  wo  finesse  or  economies  into  the 
argument,  but  I  will  take  the  wonderful  poem,  for 
poem  it  is  in  a  sublime  sense,  in  its  literal  and 
grammatical  and  apparent  meaning,  such  as  it  may 
be  presumed  a  plain  man  on  reading  it  would 
understand  it  to  be. 

Taken,  then,  in  this  plain  and  grammatical 
sense,  this  majestic  Proem,  if  regarded  as  an 
account  of  creation  in  fact,  contains  statements 
which,  to  my  apprehension,  are  irreconcilable  with 
what  we  at  present  know  of  the  constitution  of 
Nature,  and  there  is  offered  no  appreciable  hope, 
that  I  can  discern,  of  a  reconciliation  from  future 
discoveries.  I  limit  this  statement  to  my  own 
mind  and  my  own  apprehension  alone  :  if  other 
divines,  other  astronomers,  other  naturalists  think 
otherwise,  I  can  only  bow  to  their  sincerity  and 
look  to  them  for  a  candid  interpretation  of  my 
want  of  insight. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  frame  of  mind,  enviable  and 


THE  CREATION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS  261 

worthy  to  be  attained,  which  accepts  all  that  is  in 
the  sacred  Scriptures  with  a  simple  and  a  childlike 
faith,  accepting  it  as  the  Word  of  God,  and  striving 
to  keep  it,  and  to  love  it,  and  to  obey  it  all  with- 
out question,  and  making  no  inquiry  beyond  the 
seeking  whether  it  is  written.  They  who  attain 
to  such  a  frame  of  mind  I  firmly  believe  accept  the 
Bible  in  one  of  the  senses  in  which  it  has  been 
given  to  man  : — 

"  Self  questioned  where  it  does  not  understand, 
And  with  a  superstitious  eye  of  love." 

There  is,  however,  another  spirit,  equally  noble, 
for  another  class  of  men  ;  that  spirit  which  in  all 
reverence  strives  for  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is 
in  us,  and  in  humility  inquires  whether  the  things 
alleged  are  true  and  really  meant.  I  trust  it  is  in 
this  spirit  that  I  have  pursued  the  present  inquiry, 
and  now  present  the  results  of  it  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  thoughtful  in  the  Christian  Church,  and 
to  others  also  who  are  on  conscientious  grounds 
outside  its  pale  ;  and  although  I  give  what  I 
regard  as  unimpeachable  reasons  why  I  cannot 
accept  the  Proem  as  being,  or  even  as  intended  to 
be,  an  exact  and  scientific  account  of  creation, 
nevertheless  I  shall  also  state  why  I  am  satisfied 
that  it  had  originally  a  different  intention  and  a 
far  higher  scope,  and  moreover  contains  within  it 
elements  of  that  same  sort  of  superhuman   aid  or 


262  THE  CREATION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS 

superintendence  which  is  generally  understood  by 
the  undefined  term  of  inspiration. 

That  it  could  not  originally  have  been  intended 
to  give  a  scientific  account  of  creation  in  its  precise 
order,  or  method,  or  limitation  of  time,  I  am  con- 
vinced when  I  read  of  (i)  the  existence  of  waters 
before  the  appearance  of  the  sun  ;  (2)  the  clothing 
of  the  earth  with  fruit-trees  and  grass,  each  bearing 
its  fruit,  before  the  creation  of  the  sun  ;  (3)  the 
successive  orders  or  stages  of  creation  occupying 
each  one  single  day. 

There  are  also  other  difficulties  regarding 
palaeontological  morphology,  on  which  I  forbear  to 
speak  ;  it  is  enough  for  me  that  a  man  of  Dr. 
Huxley's  responsibility  and  deep  knowledge  of  the 
subject  and  general  fairness  of  mind  states 
distinctly  that  the  Mosaic  account  therein,  as  he 
interprets  it,  is  at  variance  with  the  facts  of  Nature 
so  far  as  is  at  present  known.  Further,  it  will  be 
observed  that  I  interpret  the  period  of  time, 
expressed  again  and  again  by  the  words,  "  There 
was  evening,  there  was  morning,  one  day,"  in  the 
sense  in  which  any  plain  man  would  understand 
them — namely,  as  being  intended  to  represent  the 
interval  of  time  ordinarily  represented  by  twenty- 
four  hours.  Moreover,  I  am  unable  sincerely  to 
avail  myself  of  what,  with  some  tinge  of  irony.  Dr. 
Huxley  calls  the  flexibility  of  the  Hebrezv  language, 


THE  CREATION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS  263 

and  draw  fine  distinctions  between  the  words 
"  made  "  and  "  created,"  as  if  the  document  were  that 
of  a  lawyer,  or  a  glossary  of  scientific  definitions. 
To  all  intents  and  purposes  there  is  a  representation 
of  the  creation  of  the  sun  and  moon,  after  the 
representation  of  that  of  the  fruit-bearing  trees  and 
the  grass.  There  is  also  a  distinct  representation 
of  each  of  these  creations  occupying  a  space  of 
time  limited  by  evening  and  morning,  one  day. 
These  three  representations  (including  that 
respecting  the  pre-existence  of  water),  if  intended 
to  be  a  statement  of  fact,  are,  to  my  apprehension, 
in  direct  antagonism  with  our  present  knowledge 
of  Nature  and  the  operations  therein. 

Nevertheless,  and  in  the  face  of  these  to  me 
insurmountable  difficulties,  I  feel  as  fully  convinced 
also  of  the  existence  of  a  superhuman  element 
running  throughout  the  Proem  from  its  beginning 
to  its  end.  It  is  not,  and  it  cannot  be,  simply  a 
mere  tradition  from  antecedent  generations.  For 
the  record  in  Genesis  is  siii  generis  in  the  world's 
history  ;  in  all  the  annals  of  literature  there  is 
nothing  that  approaches  it  ;  not  all  the  poets  and 
philosophers  that  have  ever  lived  could  have  com- 
bined their  genius  to  compose  the  like  of  it  in  its 
succinctness,  its  concinity,  its  majesty.  The  myths 
of  Plato  on  the  origin  and  destiny  of  things, 
wonderful  as  they  are   for  their  exquisite   beauty, 


264  THE  CREATION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS 

are  utter  childish  babble  when  placed  by  the  side 
of  the  Mosaic  Proem.  All  other  cosmosfonies 
add  grossness  to  infantine  senility. 

What,  then,  are  we  to  say  of  these  two  ap- 
parently antagonistic  elements  contained  in  the 
same  narrative,  one  of  which  is  contradictory  to 
the  facts  of  Nature,  so  far  as  we  know  them,  and 
the  other  introduces  therein  the  suggestion  of  a 
superhuman  element,  implying  more  or  less  of 
Divine  aid  or  control  ?  For  my  own  part,  I  fail 
to  see  any  inconsistency  here,  which  I  do  not  also 
see,  in  kind  at  least,  repeated  throughout  the 
entire  scheme  of  Providence,  whether  as  revealed 
in  the  Scriptures  or  as  observed  in  Nature.  For 
the  Eternal  Father  unquestionably  does  teach  His 
children  at  sundry  times,  in  multifarious  manners. 
Moreover,  things  are  so  constituted  that  the 
whole  truth,  in  its  absoluteness,  is  never  taught 
and  is  never  attained  :  the  light  is  sufficient  for 
the  day,  and  often  for  that  day  only  ;  and  more 
light  is  generally  attainable  by  a  more  diligent 
and  skilful  use  of  existing  faculties  and  natural 
endowments.  Further  still,  the  object  of  the 
Proem  seems  to  be  to  impress  on  a  rude  and 
primeval  age,  in  a  clear  and  emphatic  manner, 
the  Fatherhood  of  God  over  the  whole  creation  ; 
but  its  object  was  not  to  teach  the  order,  the 
method,  or  the  times  in  which   that   creation    pro- 


THE  CREATION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS  265 

ceeded.  Accordingly,  a  series  of  pictures  is 
presented  to  the  mind,  in  each  of  which  some 
portions  of  the  Divine  creative  power  are  suc- 
cessively displayed,  in  respect  of  the  sun,  or  the 
moon,  or  the  earth  with  its  varied  populations,  on 
the  land,  or  in  the  air,  or  in  the  waters.  But  it  is 
a  matter  of  entire  indifference  in  what  precise 
order  the  creative  energy  is  depicted  ;  and,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  we  find  that  order  does  occur 
which  is  best  suited  to  impress  the  emotions  and 
the  intelligence  of  the  mind.  I  hold  that  the 
distinction  implied  in  this  remark  is  of  supreme 
importance,  as  removing  all  objections  drawn  from 
the  fact  that  the  order  of  the  creations  detailed 
in  the  Proem  is  not  the  order  of  natural  fact. 

Again,  if  we  seek  for  the  origin  of  this  sublime 
Proem,  it  seems  natural  to  assign  it,  as  many 
writers  have  assigned  it,  to  some  ancient  tradition 
handed  down  from  previous  generations,  until, 
like  the  poems  of  Homer,  it  became  committed  to 
writing.  But  in  this  case,  where  lay  the  original 
source  of  the  tradition  itself?  That  source,  I 
hold,  as  I  have  already  stated,  could  not  have 
been  entirely  human  ;  for,  as  we  have  also  seen, 
experience  and  history  have  taught  us  that  nothing 
like  it,  in  respect  of  sublimity  of  conception,  and 
gravity  of  diction,  and  perspicuity  of  statement,  has 
appeared  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  since  the 


266  THE  CREA  TION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS 

remote  age  of  its  first  appearance  up  to  the  time 
when  the  philosophical  astronomer  of  Slough 
constructed  his  wonderful  instruments  and  applied 
his  genius  to  the  scrutiny  of  the  heavens,  so 
pregnant  and  so  suggestive. 

But  if  the  Proem  be  not  entirely  of  human 
origin,  we  are  then  to  ask  in  what  way  it  is  alleged 
or  supposed  that  this  superhuman  aid  was  accorded 
to  the  mind  of  a  man.  Now,  without  entering 
upon  the  profound  or  inscrutable  question  as  to 
the  mode  or  extent  of  what  we  term  divine  in- 
spiration, a  mere  cursory  search  into  the  sacred 
record  soon  discloses  that  the  general  agency  is 
recorded  to  have  been  through  visions  in  the 
night,  or  a  trance  by  day.  It  is  true  that  no  such 
origin  is  actually  assigned  in  the  sacred  record  to 
the  Proem  in  question  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is 
introduced  without  a  preface,  and  with  a  majestic 
abruptness,  befitting  (as  it  seems  to  me)  what 
professes  to  be  the  commencement  of  God's  written 
word  to  man.  Independently  of  this,  omissions 
of  matter,  subsequently  appearing  to  be  of  im- 
portance, are  of  constant  occurrence  in  Scripture. 
We  may  therefore,  I  contend,  assume  the  same 
sort  of  origin  to  this  beginning  of  Genesis,  which 
in  so  many  other  instances  is  stated  to  have  been 
the  mode  of  communication  between  man  and 
the  powers  unseen,  even  the  Spirit  of  God,  divid- 


THE  CREA  TION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS  267 

ing  unto   every  man   severally  as    He  will,  and   as 
the   occasion   serves.      We   may   assume   (without 
violation  of  probability)  that  in  some  remote  stage 
of  the  world's  history,  remote  beyond   our   know- 
ledge, some   holy  seer,  a  man   of   God,  after   long 
and  reverential   pondering   on   the   things   around 
him,  animate  and  inanimate,  and  on  his  own  exist- 
ence, fell  asleep,  either  in  the  gloom  of  evening  or 
in  the  light  of  noon-day,  and  in  his  sleep  visions  of 
creative  processes  passed  before  him.    In  his  waking 
hours   of  meditation,   something   akin    to  what  is 
now  disclosed   in  the  vision   may  have  gradually 
dawned  with  uncertain  light  on   his  imagination  ; 
but  now  a  Power  not  his   own   has   reduced   it  to 
an   order   more   defined,  and   a   conception    more 
distinct.      It  is  not,  indeed,  a  complete  panorama 
of  the  creation  of  things  animate   and   inanimate, 
in  its  pure  and  absolute  sense,  that   moves  before 
the    vision    of   his    mind;     but    there    are    vivid 
pictures  or  parables  of  creation,  enacted   like   the 
scenes  of  a  drama  before  him  ;  parables  of  the  crea- 
tion of  what,  in  his  wakeful  hours,  had  excited  his 
admiration,  and  such  as  when  the  vision  was  over 
he  could  remember  and  recount.      Better  than  all, 
the  creations  were  represented  as  the  work  of  Him 
who  was  the  God   of  his  family  and  of  his  nation, 
and  who  had  commanded  him  to  love   Him  with 
all  his  heart. 


268  THE  CREA  TION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS 

And  SO,  in  the  dreaming  mind  of  the  ancient 
seer,  it  may  be  in  that  undefined  and  darkhng 
way  wherewith  in  our  dreams  we  rather  perceive 
than  see,  chaos  is  present :  an  unformed  earth 
plunged  undefinedly  in  many  waters,  dark  and 
deep.  In  his  dream,  and  with  the  hearing  of  the 
mind,  he  heard  a  Divine  Voice,  speaking  with 
a  subHme  authority,  unknown  before  or  since  to 
man,  "  Let  there  be  Hght  ";  and  he  now  sees  chaos 
and  the  waters  which  he  had  only  heard  or  half- 
conjectured  before  :  but  as  yet  there  is  no  blaze 
of  the  noontide  light.  And  there  the  first  scene 
of  the  creation  drama  closes.  To  his  sleepino- 
thoughts  there  had  passed  "an  evening  and  a 
morning,  one  day." 

Again  the  vision  of  the  birth  of  things  created 
is  resumed,  and  he  perceives  an  awful  separation 
of  the  waters  from  each  other  at  the  bidding  of 
the  Divine  Word.  Part  of  these  pass  off  beyond 
the  firmament  of  heaven,  now  formed  and  disclosed 
at  that  same  command,  and  part  of  them  remain 
below.  To  the  dreamer  there  has  been  again  "  an 
evening  and  a  morning,  a  second  day." 

During  the  like  limitations  of  a  third  day  the 
earth  emerges  from  the  waters,  continents  and 
seas  are  arranged,  and  the  new-born  earth  is  clad 
with  the  trees  of  the  forest  and  of  the  orchard, 
and   the  fields    are    arrayed    in   their  mantles   of 


THE  CREA  TION  PROEM  OF  GEAES/S  269 

grass.  These  all,  like  the  other  things  created, 
are  blessed  of  God.  As  yet  there  had  been  no 
shadows  flitting  amidst  the  forests  or  reposing  on 
hill  and  glade,  such  as  he  was  wont  to  see  at 
noontide  or  at  the  wane  of  day,  for  all  as  yet  had 
been  seen  by  a  diffused  and  unconcentrated  light. 
But  now  that  the  earth  is  arranged  in  its  continents, 
and  seas,  and  hills,  and  plains,  and  clothed  in  its 
glorious  array  of  fruit-trees,  bearing  their  fruit  and 
their  seeds  each  after  its  kind,  then,  and  not  till 
then,  the  sun  in  its  majesty  breaks  forth  and 
sheds  its  living  light  resplendent  over  the  fair 
earth  on  the  birthday  of  its  completion.  The 
shadows  from  cloud  and  hill  and  tree  now  vary 
the  scene,  and  add  new  beauty  as  the  day  declines. 
In  the  evening  there  is  the  moon,  and  there  are 
"  the  stars  also,"  all  created  and  blessed  by  the 
God  of  his  fathers.  And  so  ends  the  creation 
drama  of  the  fourth  day. 

On  the  fifth  and  sixth  days  the  creation  vision 
presents  to  the  seer's  mind  a  succession  of  pictures, 
which,  after  the  lapse  of  many  centuries,  were 
embodied  by  the  Hebrew  Psalmist  in  almost 
matchless  poetry,  and  have  ever  since  become  a 
great  possession  to  devout  men  in  the  Church  of 
God.  The  new-clad  earth  no  longer  remains 
tenantless  by  life,  but  "  among  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon  the  fowls  of  the  heaven  have  made  their 


270  THE  CREATION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS 

nests,  and  sing  among  the  branches  "  ;  "  the  high 
mountains  are  for  the  wild  goats,  and  the  rocks 
are  a  refuge  for  the  conies."  "  By  the  sides  of 
the  streams  the  wild  asses  quench  their  thirst. 
Yonder  is  the  sea,  great  and  wide,  wherein  are 
things  creeping  innumerable,  both  small  and 
great,  the  leviathan  whom  God  hath  formed  to 
take  his  pastime  therein."  "  These  all  wait  upon 
God,"  and  God  pronounced  them  good.  So  sang 
the  Psalmist,  taking  up  his  parable  from  the 
creation  poem,  sublimer  even  than  his  own. 
Meanwhile,  on  the  sixth  day,  when  all  this  fair 
creation  is  completed,  where  is  he,  its  future  lord 
and  master,  for  whom  all  this  wonderful  array  of 
life  and  beauty  was  called  into  being  ?  And  so 
the  seer,  in  his  trance,  hears  the  voice  which  he 
recognises  as  the  voice  of  God,  "  Let  US  make 
MAN,"  and  the  man  comes  forth  before  the 
prophet's  gaze,  fashioned  as  nought  else  that  lives 
besides,  even  as  in  the  image  of  Him  who  created 
him.  If  we  seek  to  realise  the  scene,  can  we 
doubt  in  what  guise  the  new-formed  man  ap- 
peared ?  Surely  erect,  and  in  the  attitude  of 
prayer,  and  praise,  and  thanksgiving.  And  he, 
too,  is  blessed  of  God  and  pronounced  to  be 
"very  good."  Did  the  seer,  in  his  dream,  then 
also  realise  the  picture  so  touchingly  drawn  by 
the   Psalmist,  even   that  the  man  "went  forth  to 


THE  CREATION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS  271 

his  work  and  to  his  labour  until  the  evening "  ? 
Who  shall  say  ?  With  this  vision  of  the  new-formed 
man  the  scenes  of  creation  close  ;  and  "  there  was 
evening,  and  there  was  morning,  the  sixth  day." 

One  day  still  remains,  a  day  of  rest,  a  peaceful 
Sabbath  calm,  for  "  the  heaven  and  the  earth 
were  finished,  and  all  the  host  of  them."  Was 
it  on  that  visionary  Sabbath  morn  that,  as  in  the 
ancient  tradition  preserved  in  Job,  but  omitted  in 
Genesis,  "  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all 
the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy  "  ?  If  so,  then 
there  is  here  the  sublime  picture  of  the  first 
consecration  of  a  day,  which  henceforth  has 
become  a  day  of  days,  a  season  of  blessedness 
for  man  :   THE   SABBATH. 

If  such,  or  at  all  approaching  such,  were  the 
visions  of  creation,  and  if  amid  such  joy  the 
entranced  seer  awoke  from  his  dream,  it  could 
not  well  be  otherwise  than  that  the  favoured  saint 
would  call  his  friends  and  his  neighbours  together, 
and  sitting  under  his  vine,  or  in  the  shade  of  his 
olive  or  his  fig  tree,  he  would  recount  his  wonderful 
dream  again  and  again,  and  still  again.  Mean- 
while the  tale  itself,  after  the  manner  of  the  East, 
would  speed  its  rapid  way  from  city  to  city,  until 
at  length  the  vision,  as  such,  lost  its  name,  and  it 
became  a  tradition.  Was  this  the  divine  tradition 
with  which  Moses  began  the  Pentateuch  ? 


272  THE  CREA  TION  PROEM  OF  GEiYESIS 

This,  then,  is  the  aspect  under  which  I  view 
the  majestic  Proem  of  the  Book  of  Genesis.  To 
me  the  interpretation  wears  the  appearance  of  so 
much  probabiHty  that  I  accept  it  as  an  approxi- 
mate fact  To  my  mind  it  provides  a  key  which 
fits  and  opens  many  of  the  locks  of  modern 
controversy.  Both  as  an  astronomer  and  a  divine, 
musing  on  a  difficult  question  now  for  half  a 
century,  it  satisfies  my  mind,  and  it  sets  me  free. 
Under  this  solution  a  man  may  be  loyal  to  his 
faith  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  faithful  also  in 
a  fearless  and  ingenuous  search  for  truth.  Questions 
of  development,  and  of  protoplasm,  and  of  the  sur- 
vival of  the  strongest,  have  no  real  place  for 
contention  in  sight  of  this  sacred  panorama  of  the 
visions  of  creation.  It  bears  no  true  and  real 
relation  to  any  vexatious  doubts  as  to  the  priority 
of  palaeozoic  or  cainozoic  populations.  The  astro- 
nomer is  left  in  peace  to  take  his  prism,  and 
scrutinise  the  materials  of  distant  suns,  and  the 
genesis,  it  may  be,  of  new  worlds  ;  and  the 
naturalist  is  free  to  take  his  still  more  marvellous 
lens,  prisms  only  in  another  form,  and  search  for 
the  hidden  seat  of  the  mechanism  of  the  emotions  ; 
all  this,  and  more  than  this,  he  may  do,  without 
the  possibility  of  a  conflict  with  the  sacred  record. 
The  duty  both  of  the  Astronomer  and  of  the 
Naturalist  is  the  same,  it  is  the  search  for  truth 


THE  CREATION  PROEM  OF  GENESIS  273 

in  Nature.  The  duty  of  the  Theologian  is  to 
search  for  truth  of  another  order,  in  regions  which 
may  be  collateral,  but  can  never  be  conflicting. 

It  is,  as  I  have  said,  after  this  fashion  and  in 
this  view  that  my  own  mind  is  set  at  rest,  and  as 
such  I  offer  it  to  the  consideration  of  the  Church 
of  God,  and  specially  to  any  member  thereof 
whose  faith  is  herein  put  to  trial  ;  nevertheless, 

"  Si  quid  novisti  rectius  istis, 
Candidus  imperti ;  si  non,  his  utere  mecum." 


THE  END 


Printed  by  R.  &  R.  Clark,  Edinburgh. 


MR.    MURRAY'S 
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The  Physiology  of  Industry;  Being  an  Exposure  of 
certain  Fallacies  in  existing  Theories  of  Political  Economy. 
By  F.  Mummery  and  J.  A.  Hobson.     Crown  8vo. 

Virgil  in  English  Verse ;  Eclogues,  and  ^neid,  Books 
I.-VI.     By  Lord  Justice  Bowen.     Second  Edition,  revised. 

8vO.       I2S. 

Mohammed  and  Mohammedanism.  By  R.  Bos  worth 
Smith,  M.A.,  Assistant  Master  in  Harrow  School,  late  Fellow 
of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  Third  Edition.  Crown  8vo. 
7s.  6d. 

A  Historical  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the 
Books  of  the  New  Testament ;  Being  an  Expansion  of  the 
Lectures  delivered  in  the  Divinity  School  of  the  University 
of  Dublin.  By  George  Salmon,  D.D.  Fota-th  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.     9s. 

Stephen  Hislop  ;  Pioneer  Missionary  and  Naturalist  in 
Central  India.  1844-1863.  By  George  Smith,  LL.D., 
Author  of  '  The  Life  of  William  Carey,'  etc.  Popular  Edition. 
Illustrations.     Post  Svo.     7s.  6d. 

The  Huguenots ;  their  Settlements,  Churches,  and 
Industries  in  England  and  Ireland.  By  Samuel  Smiles, 
LL.D.     Neiu  Edition,  7vith  Additions.     Post  8vo.     7s.  6d. 


JOHN    MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE    STREET 


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